The lead bit cases
by inthehood
Summary: Pro-bending , non-bender rights protests; are they connected to the strange Republic City murders? The return of the spirits has brought a new tide of doubt, fear, and trouble for Avatar Korra. In this simmering atmosphere, a man named Lee Bei Gao returns with his daughter to the city that shaped his life...the city of his father - sequel of the Avatars mistake
1. the travel never ends

Sadly I do not own the Avatar Universe, nevertheless I like writing about it. Of course the story is non comercial and the figures I invent are free to use. I hope you´ll enjoy the tale I have to tell...Greetings In the Hood

 **chapter 1 : the travel never ends**

I was cleaning the floor, while the sun was shining brightly. It was usually here in Lau An. The summerly breeze drying the water on the oaken floor of the dojo in an instant. I am Lee Bei Gao fifty-two years old – you may have heard of me – or you haven´t. For twenty-two years I am living in Lau An, the home of Yumis family. Yumi was my sun – metaphorically spoken but the birth of our daughter almost killed her and for the seven years that remained for her to live she never again was the daring, sporty girl I fell in love with. One may ask how a shangyang streetrat became a dojo owner in a provincial small-town of the firenation and I may give you the short version of it, because the long one would not be entertaining for anyone besides bored old men. As some of you may know, me and Yumi left Republic City after the whole Yakone incident for vacation.

We had planned to be away two months but in the end it became two years. Two years in which we got to know more interesting people and watched more sunsets in strange places than in the rest of our life's. In retrospective it was the only time, the two of us really were - tumbling in the wind. And it was back then I fell in love with the fire nation, damn it – I even learned Nidhongo! When we arrived back in Republic the growing Metropolis somehow had lost a lot of its charm, nevertheless we both went into security business because Chief bei Fong had kicked me out of the police force for good. Interestingly there was no ill blood about it, and I really was glad about that. The need for security always was there and so me an Yumi ended up running a company with 24 employees seven years later. It was then Uncle…chrm I mean - Councilman - Sokka died suddenly. It hit me hard, much harder than the death of my father – Avatar Aang- would. But it was not just me who was left dazed by the hole the death of Sokka, son of Hakoda, tore, Chief Bei Fong was just a shadow of her former self, as were her daughters.

Suyin turned to crime, while Lin toughened up far more than it was good for her. Me and Yumi had to work our butts off to keep the company running and I admit that working soothed the pain a lot. Again it was that sassy Adachi Yumi that kept me sober and functional, but even she did not manage to keep Chief Bei Fong in check. The woman existed in the states drunken, working or sleeping – and then, after her daughter was arrested for robbery, she threw her badge down and disappeared. Till today I don´t know what has become of her – believe me I would give a leg for tha,t but sadly spirits don´t bargain with mortals that often. I guess the destruction of my patched up family lead to Yumi deciding that she wanted a family on her own.

I still was hesitant about having kids, mostly because I knew that the most Adachi women had died in childbed. And since Republic City, or big cities in general, are a shitty place to grow up we decided to move to the countryside – to be precise to Lau An. We bought an old dojo with a big garden, it is located in the outskirts of the small town. The people were friendly and rather soon we got students – mostly due to the fact that the big national dojos were closed off one after another. Firelord Zuko drove on his demilitarization politics mercilessly, which I could understand well. Nevertheless, it seemed that Yumi would not get pregnant. We tried out a lot of silly stuff, going as far as planting squirreltoadfeet under our bedside. And as we already had given up hope – it happened, I still remember Yumis terrible moods, and my rather hilarious hovering behavior for remarkable nine months.

Nine months that ended in one and a half day of terrible pain and misery for my wife. It still drives icy showers over my spine when I think back to these days, the smell of blood and Yumis terrible screams are still in my ears. While Yumi almost died and was tied to her bed for over four months, our daughter was as healthy as a boarcupine. Naming a child is something rather difficult but it´s traditionally done by the mother. I still think it was a bad idea to call our daughter Sokka – which means as much as "grumpy Face" in Inuktikut. Interestingly there are not much gendered names in the water tribe Language. For example, I met both, a woman named Katara and a man named Katara. In fact, the gender mostly is just transferred in pronominal words; for example, the crazy wets say "She Sokka takes up Elderberry red" and not "Sokka takes up the red Elderberry".

Sokka turned out to be anything besides a grumpy face. She was always smiling, stumbling around without a care in the world. Even if her recklessness still gives me the chills sometimes, I have to admit that I deserve no better. I myself have been a similar child, just that I had to grew up much earlier. Of course she turned out to be a daddy child, mostly because Yumi never was able to play swordfighting, chase the Avatar, or other games little children like very much. Even if I worried about my wife occasionally I still hoped she finally would get better, but when Sokka turned seven the winterly fevers that glued Yumi to her bed won the upper hand and I had to bury a wife. Actually that day was the only one in my life I did not give a fuck about people seeing me bawl my eyes out. But life had to go on, because I had a daughter to raise.

Nevertheless, it almost tore my heart out, when the little kid talked about mommy watching from the spirit realms as if it were natural. But even if Sokka told everything was ok it was – of course - not. She became sassy and violent, lost her friends and I could not even blame her because I too wanted to smash things on a daily basis. Luckily time is a great healer and even if I miss Yumi, her jokes, her company, I can call myself a happy man now. There is a lot of joy in the small things, a good brewed tea, an interesting painting – a bickering daughter in her teens. Interestingly I catch myself not thinking about Yumi for a whole day sometimes, which definitely is what she had wished for. In fact, Yumi – who knew she would not become an "old hag" proposed many canditates for me to marry after she was death. Not that I am interested in one of the women she jokingly mentioned.

They all are much to – womanly – yeah that might be the right phrase. I did not close the dojo after Yumis death because I needed the money, but the students mostly packed their backs and left. That also is because there seem to be more and more people born benders. When I was a child one in twenty had the gift but today – I guess one in five at least. If we listen to legend, the spiritual awakening is typical in a new circle of the world, and since the harmonic convergence four years ago we live in a new age. But I am a ranting old man, please forgive me, my dear readers. The story I am about to tell started on a day in summer – a day on which I was cleaning the dojo floor. The reason why I was cleaning the floor furiously was an offer of Harada Mining, which was a bigger offspring of Sato Industries. I still like the old name better – future industries – can you think off something that sounds even more cliché?

Well I could not. Soujirou Harada wanted to hew an iron Mine into the mountains around Lau An, but therefore he needed my slice of land. I was not the only one who did not want to sell, but I am amongst the last who stood strong angainst Haradas "persuasion force" of gangers. Actually I had to bend some of the guys out of the dojo, I still had some bruises from that day. Also Sokka was threathened, which really made me think about selling. I heard so from the neighbours, Sokka handles her problems herself – maybe I shouldn´t have raised her like a boy. Orhterwise, the world was not holding back on princesses. I could of course not forgive me if something happened to my sweet girl – after all I knew what this kind of scumbags did for fun. I wrung the worn out cloth and smashed it onto the floor furiously. I would not get much money for my estate – also I guessed I had to lick Haradas boots to not just get thrown out when the building process started. I still had two moth left, though. This house had become dear to me, with an angry snort I toppled the bucked and watched the soapy water flood the floor.

I rose "Just go and fuck yourself Harada. Fucktards like you ´ll never know what it means to have a family." I snarled while I thought of gripping his nicely cut suit and throwing him on the floor after a solid beating. I knew perfectly well that this would not be an option. Soujirou Harada always had armed bodyguards at his side, and he knew perfectly well that I was dangerous. Damn it he even knew that my daughter was dangerous, because I taught her how to hold a sword since she was three years old. But over the last weeks something else was going on in Sokka. she was nibbling on her bottomlip when we were eating and avoided my company whenever she could. If she were a usual nineteen-year-old girl I would have suggested that she had a boyfriend she did not want to introduce to me, but since my girl had her first boyfriend aged fourteen – not counting the tree that followed until she reached adulthood.

I was sure that was not the case. She did not keep them a secret from me, and I of course grit my teeth and pretended to like them, even if I just liked Shiro - the first one. The people of Lau An called me a bad father because I let my daughter whore around – as they phrased it – but Sokka had to learn to make her own choices, and furthermore I would not take advice from people who bragged with their lazy assed sons chasing skirts! If you speak from the demon he surely will appear and such it was with Sokka. As she stood in the entrance of the dojo and looked at me I gulped. It was a strange feeling to see the baby you had held in your arms towering above you. There stood a determined young woman with short cropped, black hair and piercing silver eyes. She was sunburned and showed a complexion that reminded me a lot of her mother – the smirk that played around her lips made the similarity almost disturbing. "You thought about drenching the slope in water and landsliding Harada n his fuckers into the afterlife?" she joked.

"Bite me Sokka. Even if I would love to just do that." I sighed furrowing my brows. This whole Harada story was my business, my daughter would not need to be dragged into this, what kind of father would I be if I couldn´t even handle my own problems. As a matter of fact I could not and that left a sore feeling in my throat, along with a simmering anger. "So- what´s it you have done again?" I asked sighing and prepared myself for what was to come. "Ähm." Sokka eyed the floor intensely and then straightened herself as if electricity was running through her veins. "Well dad – I´m nineteen years old and still live in this gods forsaken place called Lau An. Gods – I work part time in a fucking bakery. You know it´s time that um…I live my own life?" she finished questioning herself. The whole serene sifu thing I tried to pull off failed miserably. "WHAT YOU´RE NUTS? Come on Sokka your friends are also living with their parents! Have I ever hindered you to go out, have a boyfriend – spirits damn it kid - what do you even want! Just listen to yourself, you don´t even have a plan! This world is no happy go lucky place you can waltz through just because you want!" I yelled, while I was worried that Sokka simply would run away and leave me behind like a pair of old shoes.

Not to imagine in which heaps of trouble she would maneuver herself – the lone thoughts made my heart flutter, while I aged about ten years in a mere heartbeat! I had to catch my breath as she looked to the floor ashamed, her fists balled. "I-I…why am I even here and talk to you! I should be on my way dad… I´m no little girl anymore. You just want to clutch onto something, gods damn it search a woman!" she griped furious. "Especially you have to keep your mouth shut dad – if even HALF of what Ma did tell me…." I interrupted her loudly. "Don´t bring your mother into this Sokka, just because I had to grow up on the streets and become a criminal you don´t, and like HELL I WOULD LET THAT EVER HAPPEN!" I thundered gripping her top. That kind of stuff would have been underwear in my youth – I noticed. "Don´t fucking touch me." She yelled and hit me on the nose with her flat hand. I let her go and staggered backwards, my little one knew how to throw a punch. "S-Sorry dad. Hey are you alright." She hurried towards me, obviously worried, which put an even bigger knot in my throath. I sagged on the floor, suddenly feeling battered. Why was I even holding onto this dojo?

I should have noticed long ago that Sokka never wanted to take it over from me. She for sure wasn´t the legacy type, as I wasn´t myself. "Dad – talk to me…please!" Sokka pleaded, while I was sitting on the floor and shook my head. That I could be surprised by something so obvious. Lau An was too small for somebody like my daughter – I should have known that…damn it I was the man who raised her! "Where you wanna go?" I managed to choke out, nevertheless I sounded rather whiny. Sokka blinked. "You´re not gonna disown me – lock me into the basement or something?" she asked round-eyed. She looked so earnest that I had to snort.

"You think I´m some kind of demon Sokka?" I let out a deep sigh. "It´s not easy to let your child go, that's all there is kiddo." I nodded and got up from the floor. Sokka stood there, then she jumped at me with a cry of joy. "You´re not mad? You´d really let me go and see the world – thanks old man. You´re just awesome sometimes." She responded babbling while I just hugged her back with as much strength as is could muster. "Nah – enough cuddle time." I responded and cleared my throath. Spirits I wasn´t Sokkas boyfriend! "Too much to handle for an old geezer like ya right?" she smirked and wiggled her boobs. I just let out a gargling sound that made her laugh. She plopped down beside me. "I don´t really know – just somewhere – big." She responded. "Also I don´t know how long it takes to arrive somewhere…like Republic City. I guess I´d like to see that." She responded with a glint in her eyes that reminded me of my own youth. I smiled. "It´s not that great at all – hm but an old geezer can say that I guess. You know Sokka – just do what you want…and don´t be to proud to come to me if things go south." Is sighed. "Yeah…" she responded and added "You know dad – actually I´m a bit run over with you just – giving in." she left with light steps.

I had a meal to make, and a lot to think about. That I would sell the house was for sure, but the question was what I would do afterwards. I was not in the mind to fly through the four nations with a noodle wagon or move to some other remote village and just pretend nothing ever happened. I could, of course return to Republic City and stir up the place. I highly doubted that I would be welcome there, Sokka most likely wanted to go into the world without her old father in her footsteps, which I could understand very well. Otherwise, we could avoid seeing ourselves for years – Republic City simply WAS that big! Hell, after Yumi died I did not even write letters to anyone anymore, and even before that happened it weren´t many letters. One shabby friend I had been. I could drool along when I head prepared my special turtle duck ramen, Sokka loved the dish. The knife rattling and dough kneading calmed me down a bit. I did not see Sokka until I was finished with the noodles. This girl somehow always knew when I had prepared food, and like her namesake she started slurping the noodles before greeting me. I made myself a bowl and added some sliced chillipeppers.

With the age came a love for the strong tasting cuisine of the firenation, but on the other hand I still looked like forty – black hair and all. That had made the widows of Lau An really annoying until they finally got that I was not interested. "About that trip to republic Sokka – we have to talk about the house." I responded flatly after the noodles were finished. "What do you mean dad? You´re frightening me old man!" she responded as I remained silent. I cleared my troath. "Well kid – I heard that these guys followed you." My daughter was laughing out loud. "Awww come on dad – Y´know I could have fucked these assholes up if I wanted to." She sounded a bit too cocky to be authentic. "It´s not just about that – Harada sent five guys to the dojo to sign the contract…I had to use my bending to get rid of them and my back still has blue freckles on it Sokka." I responded. "These fucktards…" she hissed furious. "If I get my hands on those sorry asses…I´ll go get the boys and THEN!" she piped up. "AND THEN NOTHING SOKKA!" I growled with hurt pride. "This is not about some for hire thugs – if we beat them up, Harada just will sent the doubled amount until we can´t put them down any more." I responded "And you know that as well, don´t you." I added.

Sokka hit the table in fury. "But that´s just so unfair. What the fuck is this asshole – this hilarious suit wearing fucktard is nothing without his cronies!" she hissed, her face distorted in anger. "He has money kid – in other words, he holds power I´ll never hold." I responded defeated. "I´ll have to sell the house or they are going to take it anyways – at first I did not want to believe it but – that´s the way it is." I sighed kneading hands. I feared what would undoubtedly come next. "And- And moms grave?" Sokka asked with teary eyes. I actually had to wipe my eyes myself. "You don´t need a grave as long as you live in people's hearts Sokka." I responded sadly. "But we can´t leave it to – to these scumbags." She raged while tears were streaming down her chin. I walked around the table and cupped her chin in my hands. "They won´t even know it was there kid, I´ll take care of that myself before I sign this over, you could rip out every piece of grass around the house." I responded. Those bastards would not set a foot in my house, and sure as hell they would not piss on my wife´s grave! If I had to leave they would get nothing besides scorched earth! "Why that dad?" she asked startled "not that I couldn´t let some steam off." She sounded eager, I almost felt pity for the poor bushes.

"Because I´ll burn the house down before I sell it to Harada – no way I´ll let him set a foot in here." I responded. It was then that my daughter realized what it meant to leave home behind. She blinked, gulped and left the room with long strides. I also felt like taking a stiff drink, but of course I did not. I knew where that would lead. Since Yumi died I never had touched anything besides water, and I better kept it that way. I headed upstairs, into my bedroom and rummaged in the drawers until I found my old rucksack. It was dusty and looked worn, nevertheless it still would do its duty. I stuffed some of my clothes in there, as I did with all the money I had left. I carried it down and left the house. I knew where Haradas office was – I took the scrolls that made me the owner of my home with me. While I slowly descended the slope and watched over the town of Lau An I was wondering what would become of it. Without a doubt the mine would bring people here, and with the young people a fresh wind would blow through its cobbled streets. Maybe it also was overdue to change myself. With my dojo gone I undoubtedly would have enough time to think about that. Nevertheless, I felt as if I was carrying mount Fuji un my shoulders as I walked. I carried the papers open and heard the people whisper as I passed them.

The stubborn Adachi is selling, see nobody opposes the big money…and so on. The office of the Harada mining incorporated was located on the market square, to be precise direct opposite to the manor of the mayor. It was an old building, now featuring a giant yellow sign which promised " Harada Inc. a bright future lies ahead". I would have laughed about this if it had not been my house on which this bright future should be built. I closed my eyes and steeled myself. I had to make the best of today, and that meant reaping as much money from those assholes as was possible. I entered the building which smelled of wax and papers. The floor was shining and the big office floor was running busy, or at least the employees pretended to be busy. I just walked towards the first occupied desk, where a slim built man in a finely tailored green suit was seated. "The gods blessing sir." The man rose his head and a hidden smile flashed across his face. He knew that buying my house would be a plus in his records. "The gods blessing Mr. Bei Gao. Please take a seat, do you want some tea?" he asked almost sickeningly friendly.

"Could you finally be convinced to sell your estate?" he asked with a false smile. Even if I had loved to bury my knuckles in the bloody remains of his nose I managed as smile, which led to him gulping hard. "That might depend upon your offer dear sir, actually I thought about leaving Lau An – which would mean that there is no dojo left in this city. Something the governor would appreciate…" I smiled deviously. The man's eyes flew wide. "Well – you are late with this insight sir. Actually I can´t pay you ten yuans per square feet anymore, I may be able to pay you one in hard cash." He responded. That was a hilariously low price. Not even Lau An was remote enough for THAT! "Twelve, and I may leave this city without causing any bad press for you guys, I may even let your persuasion squad kick me out of here – in public." I responded dryly. I could take a beating for the money. "Well – add a night with your daughter and Mr. Harada might consider it… that or my budget - which is thousand yuan." The man responded,

"Don´t take this personally I´m just doing my job here." I just saw red for a second and gripped his nicely bound tie. "One more word about my daughter and I promise you that I will cut everybody in this place down – including Mr. Harada." I hissed, while my hands were trembling with rage. What in all ninety-nine hells did this sons of bitches think they were. I would never sell my daughter and as long as there was blood running through my veins I would not let these fuckers even touch a hair on Sokkas head! The man became white as a sheet and a heavily built guy rose from a chair in the corner. He held a Jian sword in his hands. "Just give me the money." I hissed, releasing the man. I put the scrolls on the table. The clerc fiddled with his tie and responded "I´ll fetch it – no need to intervene Jet Kong, we´ve got ourselves a deal." He responded and disappeared while I fixed the heavily built man, who doubtless was an enforcer of some triad. He almost looked disappointed that he did not get the pleasure to fight me.

The man returned with a small bundle of a thousand yuan, which was roughly a tenth of the money I had invested in the dojo, without considering the materials and countless hours of work I and Yumi had put into it. Let go your eartly tether – the old masters should go and fuck themselves! I gripped the small pouch and left the room. It was best to leave the town as fast as possible because I still feared that Harada might think about some sort of payback, being the lowly scumbag he was, that was not farfetched. I just sacked the money and hurried out of there, I actually ran back home until I was drenched in sweat – but I still was furious and panting. When I arrived at the wooden porch a already saw Yumi who was waiting before our rucksacks. "How did it go dad?" she asked concerned. I smiled an honest smile – it seemed my daughter was well, so I couldn´t give a shit about those yuans. "Enough to make it to republic and get a start. Nevertheless, there will be no retirement for me I guess." I shrugged. "What? But this should be about 20.000 yuan – that´s the price they paid in the beginning!" she griped. I sighed. "Well – it´s never wise to fuck with the triads kid, let's get the hell outta here." I responded and took up my rucksack. Sokka followed me pouting, but I had to stifle a smile. The slate of wood, which was Yumis grave sign, was sticking out of her rucksack.

She had gotten this sentimental side from her mother, I myself would simply have burned the thing, after all Yumi was here no more and there was no way I would need a piece of wood to memorize her. We had halfway reached the post station as she responded. "So how much money did the give you?" she would not let this slide; I knew my daughter well enough. "A thousand." I responded shortly. "What – how could you accept that – it´s hilarious!" she yelled. "It´s better that way kid." I responded and something gave me away, because Sokkas anger dissipated at once. "No problem old man – just rely on me sometimes and I´ll hit it big in the Republic - you´ll see." She responded and cocked her head. Her youthful enthusiasm was quite refreshing, but indeed – it could have been worse. "I not THAT old Sokka." I responded smiling fondly. "I´m always saying you should get yourself a girlfriend dad – you´re the one acting like some grizzled firesage!" I had to laugh at that, Sokka really had no idea how grizzled firesages did behave. "So – when have you been sneaking off into the temple young lady?" I mocked her and got a slight jab into the ribs. "Screw you." She bickered. I was wondering – somehow I indeed felt different than before and it actually was a good different.


	2. A case of lead

**A case of lead**

Inspector Chouw Mako was feeling rather unpleasant. After one and a half year he finally had gotten rid of this spirits damned former prince. This man called Wu was everything Mako never wanted to be. He fucked every woman that money could buy and many others, too. He was a coward who needed protection in every waking hour and – for spirits sake – he was a singer and mover star who just acted hilarious all the time! Actually Varrik son of Varrik still wanted Mako to play firelord Ozai in the biggest mover project in history, as he phrased it. Mako had been wavering for a second, a hundred-thousand yuan were quite the money, but as he had seen the robes he should have worn… "Avatar – the last airbender" damn it, who even thought up such a stupid title! Bo Lin of course had volunteered to play "the boulder", whoever that was! Of course his jolly younger brother had not managed to stay in the earth nation´s military without a crazy dictator in charge, he was far too undisciplined for that.

Opal – his freshly wed wife – seemed to be rather fond of his change of careers and who was he to complain. Bo Lin would be the first soldier in history to cripple himself on maneuver, with some crazy accident nobody even thought possible! Actually the young man's shoulders sagged – he was just trying to avoid the unavoidable – namely facing the wrath of Lin Bei Fong. But this case was something he could not handle on his own, it most likely was the tip of an iceberg that could shake the whole united republic, and most likely the Earthern union of lands, too. There had been three murders, which in itself would not have been unusual if the victims had not been brought to death in a very strange way. First off it seemed the equalists were on the rise again – Mako himself had wondered that they had stayed low profile for so long. Of course there had always been smaller protests of nonbenders somewhere, but nothing large and organized arose, which partly had to do with the "self justice" of bending politclubs like the "Republic City bending association" or the "Descendants of Fire", the "Mariners"….

Every nation had their supremacists, even the newly founded air nation! Even if Tenzin denied that very strictly – to Mako the "Sons of the winds" were nothing but another heap of politically motivated thugs. Thing was, three leading figureheads of the bending association had been killed through a small, deformed piece of lead. The little thing always had carried such a velocity it tore cruel, big holes into the bodies of the men. That had to be something that just a very formidable metalbender could do and who would be better to ask for help than the Chief? But there was this old hobo who had insisted that he had heard thunder strike without any kind of lightning, or rain. Just one very loud thunder in the middle of a cloudless night! Worst thing was, Mako was sure the man had NOT lied, he really believed what he had told. He knocked at the office door. "Enter." He heard the Chiefs hard voice. He wondered if Lin Bei Fongs voice had always been that hard and gravelly. The young man entered.

"Ah – long time no see Mako, I almost thought you held something against me." Mako still did not get if Chief Bei Fong was joking or if she was dead serious. He just smiled. "No – I just enjoyed time I had not to spend with Wu the terrible." He responded. The grey haired woman let out a humorless chuckle. "Well – there was nobody else who wouldn´t simply have quitted if I assigned him to this task Mako." She admitted eying her papers. "Whatever - I have a case I need your help with Chief." He responded fiddling with his scarred Arm. There was still a fiery red snake coiling over his skin, and most likely the scar would never disappear, along with the sporadic nervous twitching and random painattacks. The woman just quirked an eyebrow. "You know I never was really good at this detective stuff – I guess that´s one of the reasons I chose this seat." She responded. Indeed, Lin Bei Fong was known for her bad observation skills. Well, the "iron maiden" did not do the talking, she was the head of the cavalry – making the hard calls was her business. "It´s not like I need deductions Chief. Thing is Huan Cheung, Lee Zhang und Wang Qui Chen were murdered yesterday night." The Chief muttered a curse.

"That aren´t bad news. Three bastards less we have to worry about, if you ask me Mako." She stated dryly. "Well – you´re not entirely wrong, but there are some circumstances of their dead that really frighten me." He responded, wringing his hands. "Stop squirming and bring it up kid." Chief bei Fong rumbled. Mako gulped – why had this small woman to be even more intimidating than Korra in full Avatar mode! "Well- first of all, there was "false god" smeared about their bodies with black paint. Hence I suppose we have a crazy equalist killer running rampant….one who is a metalbender of your caliber at least." He stated dryly. Chief Bei Fong jumped from her chair, her knee hitting the table with a loud thud. She fell back in the seat groaning. "Heavens Mako – you´re heavier at dropping bombs than my mother!" the woman cursed again. "Well – what would you say if somebody tore a hole in a man's chest that in the front was like this." He held up his pinky "and in the back was a crater that was bigger than my whole hand – and the guts were blasted onto the opposite wall two strides behind the victim." He responded, while the gruesome scenery was in front of his inner eye again. He cleared his throath, it was daunting how fast the job had dulled him. If he remembered that he had been retching about a simple stabbing as he took up the batch…

The face of Lin Bei Fong showed puzzlement. "What? That´s not possible – no metalbender can move anything that fast, well I know one man who could maybe kill like that, but he wouldn´t need anything but air for it." She responded while her features looked angry and – hurt. "Master TENZIN?" Mako blurted out indecently. Lin Bei Fong shook her head determined, not even reacting to his statement. "No, Lee wouldn´t ever do something like that – furthermore I don´t know if he even is alive, or where they are living. Either way Mako, it´s not important because I swear by all spirits that Lee Bei Gao is not the man we´re searching for." She stated determined. Mako was wondering who this airbender named Lee Bei Gao was. "Moment Chief…. are we talking about an airbender who was around BEFORE Korra opened the gates to the spirits?" his eyes were round. So the airbenders had never been extinct?!

Lin Bei Fong sighed "Yes Mako, but I don´t like to talk about friends that have disappeared to spirits know where!" She responded. "So - there were this holes and a piece of metal?" she asked disbelievingly. "Yes – take a look for yourself." He responded and pulled a small linen bag from his pocket. He had the bloody pieces of lead in there. Lin Bei Fong opened the bag and pulled the two small pieces out of it. She let one hover in her hand and responded. "Mako, flip the table please, erm you should put the papers somewhere beforehand." She ordered the young detective. The young man followed her instruction, not knowing if he destroyed some kind of system in which Lin Bei Fong had sorted her papers. Then he flipped the table and went behind the Chief of police. She went in a horsestance, took a deep breath and hurled the tiny object with all her might. It whizzed through the air and hit the table with a loud, banging sound. Mako almost expected to see a hole in the table, but there was just a small dent where the Lead bit had hit the wood. Lin tried again and again, until the wood of the table was covered in dents and she was panting heavily. "No- no fucking way Mako…I´m not my mother but I CAN assure you not even she in her prime would have been able to do something like what you described. Not with that rounded, blunt thing. With a Needle or a throwingknife – I guess it would be possible. I´ll try that tomorrow." She smirked shortly. Mako nodded and kicked the table in frustration. "By Agnis ever burning flame." He pinched his nose. "I hate to say that chief. But if all possible suggestions are falsified except one, it must – no matter how absurd it is…be the truth." He sighed in frustration. "Chief…somebody seems to be able to shoot this things with lightning!" Mako responded. The Chief laughed at his words. Then her face dropped as he remained dead serious. Spirits damn it, that was so insanely crazy he would like to believe that the Killer was some kind of Spirit! But how should they kill or catch something that was made out of pure energy – and could disappear into nothingness in an instant. Furthermore the spirits were – SPIRITS – they mostly did not even NOTICE humans! As long as these humans did not pollute their realms or tried to change them into bombs of course.

If Mako thought about Korras opening of the spirit portals, especially the part where she simply tore a new one in the realms... After reading old myths and recent works of renowned scientists and spirit hunting Bushin, warriors who somehow were able to cut through spirits with ease, he was sure that Korra had done the most reckless thing ANY Avatar had EVER done! Forging a bridge between the worlds could go terribly wrong, for example she could easily have opened the doors towards the endless fog, or even better to Shan Gri La, or the ninety – nine circles of hell. An event that easily could have killed everyone in the four nations. The dragon dancers lost their whole culture because they TRIED to open the realm of Agni – they tried and FAILED to keep the door open – which lead to the arrival of the dragons on the mortal planes! That was one of the reasons why Korra did not appear in the media any more, in fact she rarely did leave air temple island. The reason being lot of scientists, self-proclaimed gurus and spirit hunters, which had launched a terrible smear campaign against the Avatar. Which resulted in Korra almost stabbing herself to death. Well she did make this big a mistake, but how amongst the heavens should she have known better? If anybody should have taken the blame, it was the white lotus – because these fuckers should have taught Korra all there was known about the spirit realms! In fact, Mako wanted to burn the face off each fucking Lotus member he came across. These damned scoundrels had not even tried to protect the Avatar – they had proclaimed that Korra had to take responsibility for her actions!

And that was what almost had been the finishing blow of the strongest woman he knew! It was the only time in his life he supported a teen slipping out of her room to go party on the docks. Because if Ikki had NOT done this his Korra would not be there anymore. That was also a rather complicated topic – he really was not sure any more WHAT Korra was to him. But he could deal with this another time, he had a job to do after all. "Mako…have you even listened to me?" Lin Bei Fong frowned. "Yes Chief, of course I have." He responded – he had no nerve to deal with an annoyed Chief on top of all these problems! "Hmm…as I said. It´s Tenzin and the council that has to get a pro nonbender campaign running before another Amon waltzes through our cities and raises hell. And I do not fucking care if this hurts the industry – the priests, or anybody." She griped and eyed her phone. "I´m going to make some calls kid, you should get this bastard, and if you get him, get him hard!" she looked stern and picked up the earpiece of the phone. Mako took this as his order to leave. Actually he had no idea where to start looking. Most likely he had to make use of his less "legal" contacts as well. He was not very close with his colleagues, which mostly had to do with him being the brilliant officer he was. And on top of that he was high society, so most of his coworkers wore plain jealousy towards him. That it took him a big amount of hard work to stand where he stood the most guys of course forgot. At first he had to make a plan before heading out. An objective observer of course would have noticed that a lot of the jealousy was nothing but a product of the young mans mind. Mako just alsways kept to himself and was treated with of a much older officer.

He left an occupied his desk. His injured arm jerked and he sent some reports flying, while he hissed in pain. As fast as the fiery pain arrived it subsided and left his arm pulsing numbly. "Monkey feathers." He sighed. Mako had put a lot of effort into the cultivation of his language, words lick fuck, son of a bitch and asshole just spilled over his lips when he was really furious. So he knelt on the floor and started sorting out his papers. An old man, who moved slightly limping bowed down. "Ah – ya feel the weather too Chouw. The damn leg – has been announcing its damned presence…erm absence… the whole day." He grumbled. "I guess it´ll rain tomorrow – a good thing for the cabbages if ya ask ol Ping Hungshu." The captain responded and helped a blushing Mako with the papers. "Thanks." He snapped, obviously infuriated about his handycap. The older man just laughed a hearty laugh. "Y know kid, I was bout yer age when I lost the leg. Hell, were crazy times back then…. Anyways, ya can be angry bout it all the time or ya can just accept things are the way they are an have one hella time! Round o corners, it´s shift change kid. It´s enough when the Ma am is living in the office." the grizzled officer babbled.

Mako sighed. Captain Hungshu of course was right – nevertheless he was angry at his body not doing what it should do at ALL times. Captain Hungshu seemed to be ageless or something along the lines. The Cap was serving in the field even longer than Chief Bei Fong, which could not be said for many. And he did not even think about retiring, in fact the guy still went to almost every party the colleagues threw. He was an old bachelor – so Mako figured the man had not much else to do. "Why not, actually I have a rather strange case at hand Sir." He sighed, he was behaving totally out of his habit. He was at his wits end, because he could not imagine that two toed Ping, four finger Tang or shady shin would know anything about equalists. And IF they did, they most likely would be involved in the organizations businesses, which meant he also would get no intel. "Geez are ya like Ma am… How do you people even sleep when ya always are thinking about work? Man ya need to clear out the head sometimes, believe a guy who´s been in business as yer wer suckling on mommas tits! Speaking of tits how it goin with the ladies?" the old cop asked with twinkle in hes eyes. " I mean, first the Sato, then the Avatar- yer´ve been quite the popular guy right?" he gossiped while Mako just snorted angrily. He HATED people talking about their relationships, these things were called PERSONAL AFFAIRS for a reason. While his older colleague grabbed his upper arm and dragged him out on the street Mako actually still was trying to find an answer to this case.

He simply must have overlooked something, some little dirty detail that would solve the puzzle. "You think I have time for relationships Cap? Actually I guess it´s for the best that I hav not, don´t think my efforts made anyone happy." He responded nonchalantly "I aim to be your successor, you know?" he shot back. Ping Hungshu let out a barking laugh. "So you wanna become Captain when time itself ends heh? Man ya should know they call me Hungshu the Immortal, Lord of corners, god of dices!" he responded with the flair of the dramatic. Somehow this guy seemed like an older, one legged, version of Bo Lin – they even wore the same beard. Finally then entered the "Iron Lily" a pub that was second home to most of the cops who lived in the bunks. There were many well known faces waiting and Ping Hungshu was greeted enthusiastically. Mako stood awkwardly in the entrance of the cozy bar, which smelled strongly of tobacco, alcohol and fried flesh. He just heard thundering voices "My man Ping – pay up yer Pint!" "S up oldie!" "Make way Uncle Pingie deserves a hug you sweaty assholes!" "Ping you motherfucker – come ere, where´s my damn report." "CORNERS CORNERS" a drunken woman cheered. Mako felt out of place and tried to leave, as the tiles under his feet moved and he tumbled into the guestroom. "I PRESSSEEEEENNNNTT YOUUU ALLLL MAKO THE FAIR, THE BOLD HERO OF THE DESK – THE MAN WHO SLAYED A THOUSAND PENCILS!" Ping Hungshu roared with gusto, while the people started laughing about Mako, whose face was as red as a strawtato.

"What the heck are ya bringing that guy in here for?" a cop asked. "Ah shut the fuck up Chen, I know a certain guy who pissed himself on his first patrol – guess who that is ol spoilsport!" Ping retorted, which lead to further laughter, this time not directed in Makos direction. Some guy who was working in the archives pulled out a chair and clasped Mako on the back with a surprising strength for somebody who looked like a living skeleton. "Take a seat bud – that´s our forces living room. Yellow dragon?" he asked offering Mako a smoldering pipe. Because the young man was too baffled the pipe ended up in his hand. He absentmindedly took a drag, the tobacco was spicy and sharp -and then pain exploaded in his throath. It made him cough viciosly. "I thought you were a scriv, no fucking stalwart!" he pressed out while his whole throath was on fire, while the railthin man took back his pipe as if nothing had happened. "You´re a demon Tarro – nobody who hasn´t sold his soul to wan shi tong can smoke this cracking shit you shove in there!" a watertribe woman blurted and moved a white pai cho stone. "Seven Pillars Miki!" she replied with a sing song voice. The old lady, who obviously was the owner of this bar, because she did not carry some part of a police uniform, hit the table. "Stop blinking with those pretty eyes Sitiyok – you vile creature!" than she scratched her chin, while there was a cacophony of voices, in which midst Ping Hungshu was sitting and mixing the cards for a game of corners. The old woman got up, went to the bar, and poured some mugs. There were seven barrels of rootbeer mounted on the bar. Meanwhile the Captain, grabbed himself a bottle of plumwhine in one hand and a chair with the other. He then artistically made his way through the full bar and squeezed himself between Tarro the scriv and another cop Mako had never spoken with. "That´s fer ya Chouw." Mako looked at the big bottle, which would easily enough take him out twice. It was old wine from the earthern kingdoms, good stuff. "Eh – why that? I mean, yeah just serve a round on my badge." He mumbled disturbed and slightly frustrated. The Captain laughed. "That´s yer stand in drinking kid – and if anyone besides you gets a slick of that bottle I´ll personally whip yer ass!" he cheered. Mako opened the bottle and took a swig.

The whine exploded in his mouth, plum, honey, elderberry and some other notes he could not distinguish. It was without a doubt the best wine he had tasted in his life. He let out a relieved sigh, while his features softened and the fire bender looked more like the young man he was. "That´s an excellent wine." He responded "A Shame there is no cup with it." He stated eying the bottle. "Man we´re not in Kuangs cuisine. " Tarro responded. "Come on Tarro, Chouw is an upper class gentleman - you boorish fart!" Ping Hungshu joked and started handing out cards. Mako forgot about the case as they played a few rounds of corner, while the alcohol was relieving the stress that had ruled him for weeks. He had already forgotten why he came here, as the Captain pulled out a small leather bound book and brandished a pencil "An now tell Tarro n me bout that fucking case ya have on yer mind." He spoke while relaxed dragging on his pipe. It was then Mako understood the lesson which the old man had tried to teach him the whole evening – he was grateful for it.


	3. the engineer who lost reason

**The Engineer who lost reason**

Yu Huan Ji looked at the towering shelf again. Crate No. 243 5421 A-XJ were missing. And it was not noted on the black board of the warehouse. He was the head of logistics for the warehouse compound six of Sato Automotives UNR. The young man wiped his goggles clean again, but the crates were still missing. Actually he had excellent eyes but an engineer needed to wear googles, as a healer needed a blue furry coat! Cold sweat was forming on his brow – that some crates of suspension parts, recoil valves or even spark plugs went missing was acceptable. But the Crates were just shipped in from Xi Tian and contained twenty high precision lathes type "Machinist 4" , furthermore spring Bending tools and Sets of "Machinist Chisels" had been stolen! Huan Ji had not noticed any signs of a break in as he arrived in the morning. The warehouses were just occupied for sixteen hours a day, which was more than enough.

The satomobiles weren´t selling that good in the united republic. If one had asked Huan Ji, himself a first class gearhead, he could have rambled endlessly about the need for aesthetic, sportive cars with at least twelve cylinders, not to talk about the damned speed regulation laws that all needed to be abolished! But at the moment the young man from the Chu Da plains was cursing and checked for the seventh time, if the notes of Crates 243 5421 A-XJ being transferred to production had not been wiped from the board or misplaced in the inventory of warehouse six D. If these crates were not found he would be in deep waters, not just because the wares were needed in the freshly assembled production line C. The content of the crates was worth close to a million yuan, which was equal to about two percent of t sato Automotives UNRs yearly budget. That was the primary reason, why they had been stuffed into shabby used crates and sent to warehouse six, with just HIM and the upper echelons of the company knowing what was in them. In the books they were listed as Exhaust clamps type IIB.

And that was, what startled Huan Ji the most, because he sure as hell was not betraying his company. What should he even do with this kind of equipment, ok he could use ONE Machinist 4, but his used Machinist 1 was precise enough to make all kind of custom parts for one´s satomobile 3 sportage. It really disturbed him because future industries hat bought up all automotive companys besides "northern spirit" and "komodo dragon". While northern spirit was the first and only company selling cars with 4 wheel drive, komodo dragon built sport cars that were just – out of this world. That was the opinion of Huan Ji, who sadly hung with the fabricates of his company. What company could be interested in such a mass of top nodge equipment and not simply buy it from the supplier? You also had to think about warranty if you invested so much money, even an engineer like him knew that! This kind of stuff was even more expensive on the black market than it was out in the open – because there WAS no black market for it…. And since there were no giant, secret military projects that would not be handled form future industriy military technology divisions, he had no idea who would be that crazy to steal these crates. No, he had NO idea why somebody wanted to steal the spirits damned crates!

"Tung, Xian? XIAN!" the man yelled through the wide building and was listening for the guards. He heard approaching steps. "Yes Boss!" the guard responded leaning on his spear sized electrocutor. "Have you noticed a car that took the exhaust springs out in the morning?" he asked the guard. The man blinked. Huang Ji tried to sound relaxed and dedicated, but somehow there was still a frantic undertone in his voice. "Ehm…yeah – why are you so worked up boss? Have the guys again listed something wrong?" Xian asked sighing in frustration. While Huang Ji would have loved to beat some brains into Xians dumb head he just released a shaky breath. "No – they are stolen, and not just some of them but ALL OF THEM! WHAT THE FUCK SHALL I SAY TO THE GOD DAMNED PRODUCTION ENGINEERS WHEN THEY WANT THEIR KOH FORSKEN, SHITTY CLAMPS!" he yelled at the guard, not caring that his saliva sputtered all over his uniform. The manager's hands were shaking. He had to take this to the bosses, the real ones – namely to Miss Sato.

And everybody knew that Miss Sato was not just busy, but also she would be furious. This was no petty theft, actually that could lead to Sato automotive loosing market shares, and if that happened Huang Ji would find himself in some run down garage, doing oil changes on daily basis. He shuddered at the lone thought! Tung, the second guard also arrived panting. His mouth dropped as he heard the usually silent Huang Jis rambling. "Boss, you just need to calm down for a bit. What happened, and are you really sure it´s not just a mistake in paperwork. Show us the papers, and if we´re all on the same page we contact central management – or whoever needs to be contacted to fix this." Tung was always earth incarnate, even if he was no earthbender. He was stoic and relaxed like a rock. The three men hurried towards Huang Jis office, where the books were kept. Huang Ji took a deep breath.

"Here – the incoming wares, there are the crates….the outgoing, nothing!" he stated an pointed at the neatly painted signs. He pulled out another heavy book, which was not handwritten. "And here, in the business plan is noted - Crate No. 243 5421 A-XJ, just to be handed to authorized personnel, signatures necessary, has to be in stock till sixt of the rat cycle of the lemur. See, no signatures!" Huang Ji reportet to the astonished guard. "Who the hell steals such an amount of exhaust clamps…." Xian mused dumbly. Tung responded "Boss- I suppose that´s something else…just keep your head outta this. You know – that´s exactly what happened all the time as ole Sato was in command, with all kind of material. Some nosy guys like you disappeared and nobody ever found them. Suppose the Mango doesn´t drop far from it´s stem, right?`" the man responded dryly. "Sato Asami sponsoring a second equalist movement? Tung, you´re hilarious." Huang Ji snorted. Asami Satos closest friends were benders and she had proven her loyalty towards the united republics establishment on countless occasions. "Not all the equalists were scumbags, molesting women and children boss." Tung responded.

Huang Ji himself was an equalist at heart, he knew that. But he was no man to commit crimes because he had his belief! "I know Tung – they fought for the right thing but, as always… some psychotic fucktard comes along and spreads mayhem, and then the common people are the demons…." He sighed frustrated. "Eh boss – let´s not talk about that kinda stuff here, it could get us fired, you know how the higher ups are about everything around the e word - right?" Xian responded. Huang Ji nodded in consent. "Well I can´t do nothing either guys. This stuff is really important and nobody else has these specific clamps." Huang Ji sighed. "But you saw a car loading in these crats Xian, what car was it?" he asked. "Um- Uh… a Satomobile farmer – you know the one with the full wood long bed." He responded. Huang Ji furrowed his brow. He LOVED the Satomobile farmer long bed. And that precisely was the reason that had made him aware of the fact that nobody in Republic City drove the car!

"That´s strange – the farmer long bed never was sold in Republic; it was an earth nation countryside car." Tung interjected. "But they had the Sato patches on the front window, they wore uniforms like we do." Xian responded. "Guys – we´re taking this high. Tung, Xian…we´re going to Miss Sato. Since she´s here in Republic I won´t talk about anyone else about this. Sato patches aren´t easy to steal and without uniforms you can´t even get on the company area, and we all know that no uniforms leave the place. I mean you know why they are so strict about that… e word and such!" Huang Ji had decided. He was not taking the blame for anything, and when somebody above his payroll did make some illegal things he just wanted the slip of paper that said he was not responsible for this incident. Huang Ji was a man of science, not a man of politics – if he were, he most likely would have fought in the streets of republic some years ago. Actually he had no idea how you were able to get a slip of Asami Sato´s time, but sometimes even a well-organized young man like him had to wing something.

"Xian – you stay here and guard the place, we don´t want these bastards to roll in here a second time, and you´re the guy who knows em." Huang Ji disposed of the dull guard. "Aye Boss, and they won´t see me coming." Xian grinned in bravado. Huang Ji highly doubted that anyone came into warehouse six, otherwise he would not have left Xian behind to handle the thing. Tung got rid of his electrocutor and muttered something under his breath as he followed the young man. "You´re sick right Boss?" the guard responded. Huang Ji did not understand what the older man wanted to say. "Umm no?" he responded disturbed. Suddenly he was on the floor, gasping for air as the guards boot hit his stomach again. Shit – Tung was one of the guys behind thing the young man thought as the contents of his late breakfast hit the floor. Much to his surprise the guard helped him up, he was clutching his stomach wheezing, he had not even enough air in his lungs to scream for help.

"So, now we can leave the facility without waiting for the shift turn." Tung stated nonchalant as ever. "The fuck…" Huang Ji managed to choke out, while he followed the guard on wobbly feet. He had not felt such pain since elementary school, where he managed to fall from a tree he had climbed into, to retrieve his kite. When they reached the facilities gates Huang Ji still was reeking of vomit, which made the guard wave them through without asking further questions. Tung nevertheless had to sign out for the time being. "That was some shitty idea Tung." He yelped nevertheless as he waved a riksha to drive them to Future Industries main offices. "That´s the price of winging things Boss. Believe it I´m a pro at this. I´ve got five kids at home." Tung responded. Actually Huang Ji did not even know that Tung was married, maybe he should socialize more with his coworkers. The sunburned, wiry man ran through the buzzing traffic of Republic City, dragging the carriage with his two passengers like it was made of paper.

Huang Ji was musing – how could they get to the administrative floor, or even better – directly into Asami Sato`s office. He could of course make a ruckus, but that most likely would just get him fired. If he could rely on Tung – maybe he could make it into the office. Tung was a guard, and as such he wore the same brown, black suits all Sato guards wore – even the ones guarding the central office! So Tung should be able to come up into the floor, he could simply get some coffee and state he was on lunch duty if he was even asked. It almost was lunch time. The problem was that Huang Ji could not tell the guard what really had been in the crates, so what to do. "STOOOP!" They were passing the branch office of the Bei Fong Bank in which he had rented his safe deposit box. There the less legal posessions of Huang Ji were resting for better days to come. "What do you want in a bank?" Tung asked distracted. "I´ve gotten an idea, y know I´ll use the e word man!" he responded determined and left a puzzled looking Tung. The Bei Fong bank was one of many private banks that had popped up everywhere after the 100 year war.

It was naturally because amongst all the rebuilding, the left over hunks of yuans from war profiteers had to be moved somewhere – and what would have been less suspicious than opening banks which enabled international trade and the easy shifting of large sums. In Republic City the Bei Fong Bank – and some other even less important ones – had built up another field of business. They rented out safe compartiments, which allowed the less fortunate citizens of Republic City to prevent their papers and valuables to be stolen. And because the contents of these deposit boxes were personal property nobody besides the owner had the key to them, while just the clerks held keys to the safe rooms. Since this invention was rather new, a lot of criminals used these boxes as stashes, even Huang Ji used the box to hold on to the reminders of the glorious revolution of Amon.

The interior of the bank screamed earth kingdom, green brokate carpets on the walls, paintings of Ba Sing Se, a gold hewn calligraphy of the "manifest of the earthern lands". The counters were made of heavy, dark looking wood and favored the modern Republicism, that was spreading all over the four nations. The clercs were clad in fashionable, emerald suits. The men were clean shaven, with short cropped hair glinting of polar bear dog fat, the women also wore the fashionable short haired cuts of the Republic city upper classes. Huang Ji did not like his bank, but since the Bei Fong Bank always sponsored earth rumbles and other combat sport events, he had eaten the sour lychee and deposited his money here! A lot of housewives were standing in line to retrieve their money for their weekly expenses. While the people here were chatting idly Huang Ji felt as if time had slowed down to something almost static.

He lined in behind an old hag, which was hunched over a crooked cane and wore bleached out robes. That somebody who looked so poor even was allowed in the bank room, which was guarded by two sturdy looking earthbenders, was new for Huang Ji. While little children wailed and people hustled in an out of the bank he slowly moved forward in the queue. The old woman in front of him waddled towards the counter, drawing a thick envelope. The clerc suddenly acted very friendly, took the envelope and disappeared in a separé. Most likely the old woman ran errands for some criminals Huang Ji supposed, because she really did not look like she herself owned an envelope full of hundred yuan notes. As the clerc returned without the envelope he nodded towards the old woman, which leaned towards the younger man. Huang Ji did not understand a word these two were muttering. He closed the space to the counted with hastened strides.

"E-Exuse me Sir. I´d like to take my deposit box." He responded hastily. The young man sipped on his tea and then responded with a well-practiced smile. "It´s a pleasure for me to assist you Mr." he stuck out his hand. The Engineer was wondering what the young man was waiting for. "Your key? I have to note the access in the book Mr." he responded with a slight tone of annoyance in his voice. "Oh…er… yes of course." Huang Ji stammered, dragged out his pouch and fumbled around until he found the small, brass key between the coins that rattled in there. "Here." He handed the key into an unpleasantly soft hand. Damn it, not even his girlfriend had such soft hands, and she was a woman! The guy again disappeared in the separé and returned. "Would you please follow me Mr. Yu?" the employee stated and led Huang Ji into the vast basement of the building. Here were the deposit boxes located, behind thick, tiled doors of bamali wood. The clerc opened one of the many heavy doors, behind which the deposit boxes were perched neatly in their brass slots. It took a while until the stressed young man found what he was searching for, Huan Ji unlocked the cover-lid and dragged his box out. "I´ll take the whole box. You see it´s a custom made one. Not one from your company." He pointed out and almost pressed the wooden box into the clerk's face. The man stepped back. "Yeah- Yeah I believe you Mr. Yu." He answered snorting the dust out of his face. "I just wanted to make sure Mr. – not that your security arrests me or something." The clerk muffled a cough. "Everything´s fine sir." He was waiting again it seemed. Huang Ji reminded himself he should leave the basement before the clerk, who closed the heavy door and led him back into the well-lit entrance room.

"Have a nice day." He responded weakly, while the clerk waved cheerfully. "To you Mr. Yu – pleasure doing business with you." Huang Ji exited the bank and almost stumbled. He actually had never thought he would open this box again, just having it was enough for him. The wooden box was three fingers high, two spans broad and two feet long. "We´re going to bribe our way in?" Tung responded raising his eyebrows. "Never thought you´d have saved up that much Boss. Always thought you were more of a spender…" he waved his hands around. "Not really. Actually my plan has to do with me, the e- word, electrocuting and you Tung." He responded devilish smiling. "Protocol 2A paragraph one Tung." He added in a sing song voice. The eyes of the guard bulged. "You´ve got one of the gloves? After more than five years?" he asked in a muffled voice. "Nope – I´ve got the sticks…was a really expensive souvenier, but the guy wanted to loose em fast." The engineer stated grinning. "And I´ve also got badges, the goggles and the red bandana. In short – I´ll play raving drunk idiot!" he stated. Tung laughed. "Boss, that´s the craziest plan I´ve ever heard of! " he chuckled.

"Nope – the craziest plan of all times was, eh – let´s use all this short wave radiation to cut a hole into space and seal it with a dislocated spirit realm from 4-D plus X space!" he stated dryly. "What are you even talking bout Boss?" Tung asked startled. Huang Ji let out a chuckle. "Stuff that scares the shit outta me because I´ve got no clue of how it works Tung." He smiled a brittle smile. Indeed, these damned spirits still were able to make mankind shiver in fear, even after all the advances the last two centuries had led too. The two men got themselves another riksha and travelled into the office district of Republic city, where the oversized future Industries tower was looming into the heavens, the only thing that pierced the heavens even higher was the damned spirit portal. Huang Ji warded off the evil as he spit over his right shoulder. Some strange looking, flying hippos hovered through the air squeaking.

Even if these spirits looked rather cute and were perfectly harmless… every one of them held the energy to blow a friggin township AWAY! Somehow Huang Ji felt an irrational fear and hatred towards spirits, as he did towards benders. He knew that it was silly and such he took no action, even if action of any kind would have made him feel better. On the other hand – his girlfriends father was an earthbender himself and they actually were rather fond of each other. They bought soju which Huang ji partly drank and partly spilled about his clothes. Then Tung placed himself on the stairs of the Sato tower. Huang Ji opened the box, put on the goggles and the bandana. He was breathing heavily as he gripped the rubber handle of one of the bats. Than he stormed forward and directly stumbled into an office woman, who was going off to lunch with her colleagues. The woman screamed as she almost fell down the stairs. One of her accomplices had gripped the collar of her blouse just in time. The silk ripped as Huang Ji pulled up the bandana and yelled. "Equality for ALL….BRETHREN – RISE!" he struck with the bat, electricity crackling through the air.

The man released the woman, screamed and hit the floor while Hunag Ji beat himself through a crowd of screaming, partially fleeing officeworkers feeling nothing but the sheer bliss of doing something absolutely crazy! "All Hail to Amon…. EQUALITY FOR ALL!" It would not last long though because Tung subdued the young engineer easily. The guard kicked against the arching forearm of the young man, who dropped his weapon screaming. Then the guard smashed him onto the stairs roughly. "Freeze. Bring me some handcuffs – dammit! Hold it you crazy scoundrel!" Tung yelled, while the young man was squirming like a worm. It hurt everywhere "Stop it you asshole." Her gurgled as the guard pulled his arm back too far. Than His head was smashed onto the stairs again and blood was flooding his mouth. Huang Ji screamed in panic and trashed, but was bound by the guards and dragged into the building. When the dazed vision of Huang Ji cleared itself he was riding upstairs in a paternoster. His hands had been tied unpleasantly behind his back and two guards were with him.

Tung was not amongst them anymore. The young man gulped in fear. What had he gotten his sorry ass into? But why, why THE FUCK could these people not just written an entry in the books, for Koh´s Sake! Huang Ji felt like crying but somehow he managed to hold himself together. His head was ringing and his whole body in pain. He was exhausted and wished nothing more than to never leave the soft bed he wanted to rest into as soon as possible. The guards pushed him out of the wooden elevator, the young man crashed on a floor that was adorned with crimson carpets that contained more brokate than wool. It seemed he indeed had arrived in the dragons den. As he was roughly pulled back on his feet he could look down upon the vast crawling metropolis named Republic City, and the thick jungle of vines and spirit trees that had popped up in the former region of Tui-Market.

There was even a small, koi fish containing, pond in the hall, while expensive looking artworks adorned the walls. If he was a burglar this, without a doubt would have been a wet dream! The big men dragged him directly in front of a red painted double door, one of them knocked. "You bastard now listen up – if you just make a false move in there – I´ll snap your neck like a twig. Got that equalist scum?" The man's green eyes sparkled in merriment. Yes – awesome, pro bending guys…Huang Ji cursed inwardly. Hopefully Asami Sato at least thought along the lines of her father, or he would not leave this building in one piece - if he met Asami Sato of course. Without further delay he was lead into the room and beheld the most beautiful woman he had seen ins his life. Asami Sato indeed looked like the photographs in newspapers. Her curly black hair was glinting like satin; it was meticulously combed.

Her makeup was perfect, the lips painted a blackish violet that again could be found in her eyeshadows. Her thin brows were furrowed as she rose disgusted from her desk, and a disturbed Huang Ji noticed that Asami Sato was half a head taller than he himself. "You know why you are here?" Asami Sato hissed, her voice was cold, as were her slightly reddish eyes. "Because my plan B succeed Miss Sato?" The Enginer fought a grin, at least he had gotten so far. "Your Plan, being to hurt random people in my frontyard? Your drunken idiot don´t even know what you are doing and if it weren´t for protocol 2A of the Future Industry code of conduct I would have handed you directly over to the police - Mr. Yu!" Asami Sato hissed. Huang Ji wondered. How in all heavens could she know his name? He never had talked with her in person. "How do you know my name?" he asked dazed one of the guards slapped his already hurting head. Miss Sato did not respond anything. "Because I looked into your background – you made many optimizations to our products." She informed him coldly. Huang Ji never had thought that Future Industries CEO would be that great a mind, sure he heard stories of Asami Sato being equal to an engineer but he pushed it off as sweet-talk.

"Coming here was my main objective – this ruckus was just plan B Miss Sato… Really we have bigger problems than some beat up office workers." He responded "That´s…" one of the guards fumed. Miss Sato moved like a blur, the clashing sound of a fist meeting a palm, Huang Ji smelled the sweet odor of the young woman who towered over his, now kneeling, figure. She wore a perfume composed out of elderflowers, dragonlily and sweet musk, he inhaled deeply. "This man is not to be beaten unless I say so. Gentlemen – out!" Asami rumbled in an almost sweet voice. "Y-Yes Madam." The bulky men bowed and disappeared without questioning her. Then the terrible goddess of the industrial world seated herself on her desk. She looked at her meticulously manicured fingernails, which were coloured a deep purple. "If you´re not a crazed equalist on cactus juice, what are you here for Mr. Yu? And why could you not call my secretary to make an appointment." She stated with a dangerous edge in her voice. "W- Welll Mrs. Sato. Because somebody in – in the higher ups is stealing things. Ex-Expensive things li-like the new Ma-Machinist 4s!" he squeezed out stuttering. Asami Satos expression wavered, she looked disturbed and a bit frightened until her nonchalant business face returned.

"The crates from warehouse six are gone? I, wanted to send a team to retrieve the goods tomorrow." She responded in thought, her eyes fixing the poor engineer. "Y-Yes Miss Sato. I checked, I looked everywhere with my guards. Heavens we checked the books, nobody did misplace the entry. Not even on the board – there was nothing wiped off! And these guys came with a farmer longbed. A longbed! If you wanted the stuff to be moved in secrecy, you shouldn´t write procedures in the fucking business plans!" the engineer defended himself with a flurry of words.

"First things first – who are these guards, and can they confirm your testimony." Miss Sato spoke, while grabbing a pencil and a notebook from her table. "A-Ah. Xian Chin and Tung Do. Xian is guarding warehouse six now, while Tung was the one who arrested me." He responded truthfully. Asami scribbled everything down, most likely the poor guards also would be arrested and questioned, Future Industries almost was a state on its own. "And what are you babbling about the car and the men who got the crates?" she questioned again, while her voice seemed to lose the chilly tone. "Chrm..The men were clad in Sato Automotive uniforms, and they had even a Patch on the car – BUT it was a farmer longbed!" he responded in triumph, while Miss Sato looked at him with a rather dumb expression. "What´s with this longbed thing?" she asked. The engineer's eyes bulged "Spirits – don´t tell me you don´t know you company's sixth most popular model!" his voice almost toppled. "The beautiful Satomobile farmer longbed, most charismatic of all delivery trucks, clear lines…bamali wooden longbed, full leather interior…." He sighed. "Well the point is. The farmer long bed is not built any more since about 5 years, and he was an exclusive earth nation car…meaning…" Asami´s eyes glinted

"That car is not from our fleet, correct Mr. Yu!" she sighed and pulled a small key from her jackets pocket and opened his handcuffs. The young man was shaking his prickling, numb hands. "You´ve more than done your duty Mr. You. In the name of Future In…ahh screw it, just thank you." Asami Sato responded with a somewhat seductive smile on her lips – which she would of course have commented with a disturbed wrinkling of her brows if somebody had pointed it out. Huang Ji was speechless, he had just tried to save his own neck and was thanked like he had done something brave. Everybody knew that Engineers never did something brave, engineers were people who did things SAFE that was what they were paid for! Furthermore, he was feeling far from heroic, with his body aching like hell. "Oh gods – Zhu will kill me…" he muttered in silent horror as he realized that this morning had not been some kind of freaky dream. His girlfriend never would believe him and would assume he just had brawled with somebody over something stupid.

It was not always good to marry one's childhood friend, Zhu knew perfectly well, that the little Huang Ji always got into trouble about something unnecessary and sadly his character had not changed much in the last decade of his life. Asami Sato was fighting a laugh. "Stop looking like that, you don´t know that woman – she´ll be like firelord Ozai´s reincarnation when I come home like that!" he whined. That did it and a flushing Asami Sato giggled behind her upheld hands, Huang Ji looked just funny it seemed. He blinked disturbed, which made Miss Sato giggle even harder until she was grasping for air. "Geez Mr. Yu -you really should have gone into the cabaret business, as a friend of mine tells it pays off much better than engineering, if you haven´t inherited future industries of course." She trailed off. "Whatever Miss Sato." He interrupted slightly impatient. "At first you have to take care of my reputation, bribe the employees to not make a report to the police. Furthermore, I suggest you transfer me into another branch of the company because – ehm it would lead to the wrong people nosing around, right?" he stated. The young woman returned into business mode.

"Yes, of course I´ll take care of this as soon as you´re on your way home. Would you like to work in the naval technology labs in the harbor? That is the only thing I can offer you without you leaving the city." She responded thoughtfully. "Leaving Republic – sounds awesome if I get a promotion." Huang Ji almost crapped his pants in awe of his own courage! Asami Sato coughed and sighed. "Satomobile customs Ba Sing Se – pays better because you´ll get the paycheck paid in in the republic but live in the Kingdoms." She sighed. "Deal Miss Sato." Huang Ji cheered almost jumping from the chair. Than again pain seared though his head and he tumbled around dizzy. The young woman had to help him sit down. "You should not overdo it Mr. Yu – take that from a girl with more experience than you." Even though the context was definitely non sexual Huang Ji could not help his blushing. Luckily it was not very noticeable in his bloodstained face. Miss Sato already had picked up the phone that was located on her desk. "Yes, send the healer and a suit I…" she looked into Huang Jis direction "guess size 32 Varrik standards." She responded. "To my office, yes. Nobody needs to know about this.. Thank you." She hung up and started dialing another number. It took some time until she put down the phone. It was than the door opened and a water tribe woman entered the room.

She was pushing as small cart laden with ointments, leaves, bandages and other kind of medicines. She wore the traditional blue leather garments of the tribes. How she did not sweat herself to death in the thick robes was a mystery to Huang Ji. "I guess that´s the patient Madam?" she responded with a deep, dull sounding voice. With a fluid motion she uncorked the water hose and bended a slightly flirring coating on her hands. Huang Ji closed his eyes, water healing was amongst the few things connected to bending, which were not frightening. The water connected with his skin and a warm, stinging sensation washed through his body, while the pain was dulled.

The woman changed the water a few times until she was finished. "Gargle with this please." She responded and handed the young man a small bottle with a whitish liquid." What´s that?" the engineer asked skeptical. "Medicine." The woman retorted with a scruffy voice. "Yeah – that´s really scientific of you." The engineer grumbled opened the bottle and drank. The liquid tasted salty an was warm, not all that unpleasant. The most important fact was, that his head did not ache and there was no blood in his face anymore. Asami Sato was on the phone again, this time she seemed to have reached whom she wanted to call. "Asami here Chief. We have a problem here; some gangsters stole the big game. Could you send Mako to my office." She paused "Yes, I know you´re busy, but I need Mako here even if he has an important case." Asami Satos brows furrowed. "No – I´m not being dramatic, we´re talking about almost a million here and furthermore nobody should have known the wares were there and there is no blackmarket for the goods." The young woman rolled her eyes.

"Thank you Chief..You´ll send him over when he comes back. Yes, thank y… No definitely not …. well if you care that much you should visit her yourself!" Asami Sato bickered into the phone and put down the ear piece. While the young woman was muttering something under her breath a new Uniform had been delivered by her secretary, a slim and plain looking young woman. Huang Ji looked at the Uniform, was he expected to undress himself here, in front of women? He felt slightly embarrassed by the lone thought. "Erm excuse me – is there a room I can erh…?" he asked the secretary, who eyed him through round spectacles. She smiled a bright smile. "Of course, the men's bathroom is right around the corner, follow me please." She responded kindly.

While Yu Huang Ji wanted to get home as fast as possible, mostly because he was sure that Miss Sato eyed him as an inconvenience, the latter turned towards him. "Would you like to join us for luch?" the woman asked. Huang Ji felt baffled, it was the first time a woman like Asami Sato invited him to anything. "Erm…Eh yes – I´m just changing Miss Sato." He rambled and left the room with a surprising speed for somebody that beat up. In fact, Huang Ji felt a slight twinge of guilt searing through his chest. Even if he was rather flattered by the invitation it felt not right to dine with Miss Sato. He had a fiancé after all, and even if he sometimes thought about having an affair with somebody besides the girl he knew since aged four, he never actually considered it. The uniform was a tad too big for him, which was amazing given the fact that Asami Sato had not even taken a close look at him.

His fingers were trembling slightly as he tried fastening his tie, until he decided to simply threw the tie into the small bin under the washing dish. He splashed some water into his slightly fatty hair and smiled at himself, revealing yellowish teeth. "Mother of faces, grant me luck." He spoke to himself, while staring into his own, watery green eyes and slapping his cheeks thrice. He heard a low chuckle from one of the toilet cabins. Beautiful, now he also was making himself hilarious. He returned to the office of Miss Sato and waited for the ladies to step outside. Whatever the women were doing in there, it took time – or had they already forgotten him and went their ways? "Right – you should always remember you´re nothing but an expendable asset Huang Ji." He told himself, feeling slightly hurt. But he was used to it, he had been born poor and for him there always would be a thousand other men that were willing to do his job. Nevertheless, he wanted this job in Ba Sing Se and so he would do what ordinary people could do best. He would ask polite until Asami Sato was so annoyed that she gave him what he wanted – or called the guards to show him the exit. While he stood in the rich ornate hall like a lost puppy suddenly the high voice of the secretary cut his train of thougts. "Mr. Yu, why are you standing outside?" she asked him humoured. "Erm…because I was waiting for – you and Miss Sato?" he asked. "Your Boss had invited me and so I waited until somebody would come to show me the way out." He responded truthfully. The secretary giggled. "Miss Asami is not like – ordinary rich people – Mr. Yu. Also I guess she has a weak spot for nonsense rambling cute looking guys like you…." The woman furrowed her brows. "Did I really say that?" she blushed, while Huang Ji gulped hard. If this young woman did not dress herself like his long dead grandmother she would definitely look hot. And she was flirting with him, something Huang Ji experienced not very often. "If you say so- erm – so what is the plan exactly - Miss?" he asked.

"There´s no plan, there is just food, I hope you like earth nation cuisine, the cooks just sent a usual meal to the office. You know – Miss Sato eats as much as a catogator in autumn, it´s so unfair that she doesn´t gain weight." The secretary grumbled looking rather adorable. "And I´m no Miss – call me Rin Hua." She responded brightly. Huang Ji was rather sure that simply being rude and going home would be the best thing he could do right now – but alas he had not the resolve to do what was right.


	4. Again into the City of Dreams

**Chapter 4: Again into the City of dreams**

People say that you should not uproot old trees, but much to my puzzlement I neither felt uprooted nor unhappy. I never before had worked on a mackerel trawler, or a ship in general and even if the unsteady decks had made me stumble and retch my guts out in the first two days on high sea, I got used to it pretty fast. And with the sickness also the disgust I held for anything that had to do with boats disappeared. Actually the wide sky, the strong winds and the green sea were beautiful. Captain Dee was a rough tar jacket, as were most of his crewmen. There were just two women on board, Sokka and the ship`s cook Aki, who also was Captain Dee´s wife. The sea-horse did what Fire Nations fishermen had done for centuries. They drove north, riding the fish rich Unagi -stream, smoking or salting the young mackerel, which were traveling north to grow into big, burly fishes. I always liked working with my hands, and so the gutting of fishes, repair of nets and such stuff came really easy to me.

I also was shocked about the talent Sokka showed at this. Most likely it was just me being blind – because daughters always stay clumsy four year olds that want to marry their father. Nope, actually I was rather proud that she was able to keep up with the guys, because a fisherman's work is a hard work – as my back sometimes noticed. Compared to the other men I had no backaches at all, Captain Dee walked on a cane and was groaning all the time, and he was almost ten years younger than me. The sun had tanned me, so I almost had reached the dark tone of a water tribe guy. Sokka was pulling on the nets, along with the other sailors, while I was sharpening the gutting knifes on a wetting stone. It was a cloudless day and a swarm of "gloweyes" followed our ship. As far as I knew gloweyes were some kind of dual creatures, such as dragons. Physical beings that were tied to the spirit planes, which lead to them defying the laws of physics through energy-mass shifts. How else would you explain the flying of two tons of teeth and claws that were NOT airbending!

Yeah – I ´ve been keeping my head in the sciences, even after councilman Sokka died and it was baffling to see what the people had discovered in the last twenty years. My daughter sadly had as much interest for physics as most nineteen-year olds, which meant none. "Ey Lee, you done – the net´s damn heavy this time." Six finger Han yelled with a voice as rough as an Ostrich horses. I dropped the whetstone and the knife and headed over there. My hands were calloused again so it did not hurt to grip the rough rope. My muscles bulged as we pulled on the net, while the trawlers railing was leaning towards the seaside more and more. "Pull on yer measly fuckers!" Dee yelled from the steering wheel. Somebody fell into a rhythmic sea song, how singing crude songs made you able to work harder was something I did not understand, while my daughter loved the singing. The net was rather heavy, sadly there was a large amount of gloweyes in there. Since the spirit portals had opened these little bastards seemed to have multiplied. They were rather small fishes, about as long as my forearm, with an eel like body and a large snout filled with needle like teeth.

Their eyes were glowing in a bright white light and some fishermen told that the gloweyes were like a storm that thrived though the seas, leaving nothing behind but clean picked bones. Indeed, the little rascals were slithering around and chewed at everything that came near their teeth. "Butchering time Pals." I yelled and put on my chainmail gloves. The nets content splattered on the wooden planks, the gloweyes slithering everywhere. We all were wearing thick leather boots and soon twelve people with bloodied knifes were gutting gloweyes as if they had hell to pay. Aki also had attended the deck, rolling empty barrels on deck and piling up the filets in salt was enough for her and Sokka to do. Aki alone was too weak to get the full barrels back under deck. Our travel was nearing its end, the shoreline was no stranger to me. Outside of Republic City not much seemed to have changed in the United Republic. The people still relied on farming and fishing to earn their living. There were no big mines or factories that near to the coast. By tonight we would reach Yue Bay, which somehow filled me with anticipation.

We had lived on the sea for three full months. We just ran on small islands to refill the water tanks and take up some pickled cabbage. The trawler was deep in the water and I highly doubted that Captain Dee would sink the nets another time. It was a lucky coincidence that Captain Dee had lost two of his men to the united forces recruiting squads and such was searching hands in Lau An. I managed to talk him into taking two greenhorns like me and Sokka on board, because I charged no payment for our services. My daughter of course had been rambling about it, but Sokka simply loved rambling about anything. Indeed, we reached the mouth of Yue Bay in the light of the setting sun. It was a beautiful sight. Avatar Aang's Statue was towering into the heavens, shortly followed by a new statue of Avatar Korra. She looked less gentle and otherworldly, which might also be due to the crimson light that bathed the statue. Air Temple Island still looked like I remembered it. The Avatars house was as big and beautiful as ever, also there seemed to be many small shrines on the island. Somehow I felt a bit of melancholy settling in as I laid eyes on this city again.

Republic´s skyline had grown excessively. I had to admit that the buildings were impressing – far taller than anything I had seen before. Sokka was staring wide-eyed at the gigantic jungle of bricks and concrete that stretched around the hills around Yue Bay as far as one could see. And then there was a giant pillar of light that illuminated the whole city and made every light fire purposeless. The new Spirit portal. It was not just impressive, its wavering light was captivating and just by looking at it I felt the need to kneel down and speak a prayer. Sokka's mouth opened and closed as she looked at the sight in front of her. Even the sailors looked at the portal in awe. "Che… That wasn´t ere last time right bro?" six finger Han responded, his voice full of humility. "That my friend is nature – and we mere mortals think we´re ruling this place huh… Nah I say we´ve still gotta go the old ways n pray to the gods." Captain Dee answered. The guy actually had tears welling in his eyes and also my heart was swelling with joy. I could not imagine what kind of sight this was for people whose whole lives depended on the things they tore out of the seas deep belly. The old steam engine huffed steadily and drove the ship forward.

The docks had grown into a network of peer, quays and warehouse districts. "Holy Shit – t- that- that!" Sokka was blinking. "Republic did grow quite a bit." I responded chuckling. "You know – when your mom and I were living here the whole right side of the harbor was nothing but forests." I stated, but Sokka did not listen to me. She was too overwhelmed by the city. "And what is stinking so badly." She responded with a wrinkled nose. "Oh – beautiful waters of Yue Bay, how have I missed you." I hummed in satisfaction as I looked at the brown soup that now was freckled with massive dots of oil. Sokka just stared at Yue bay. "Not´s all that´s shiny is gold – are these people shitting in the rivers or what!" she grumbled with a wrinkled nose. I chuckled, of course my sweet Sokka would not know about things like river pollution. In a farming town like Lau An, the people collected their feces to use them as fertilizers. "Exactly, these fatsos can´t do anything besides guzzling n crapping!" Captain Dee responded disgusted. "Nevertheless we´ve to get ourselves a place to threw anchor, get some water and sell some damn good fish! Won´t go down south without some gramophones!" he responded. Sokka gulped, of course she had to be afraid of this city, mostly because she had proclaimed to get her own flat – her own life. While I trusted my kid to be able to handle this, I supposed she herself wasn´t so sure anymore. Even if I had loved to step in and clear her a path, I knew that Sokka herself would be furious at me once she had realized she dependent on me.

And of course I had people to meet that might not be very friendly towards me, it was not necessary to involve her in my complicated family businesses. Actually I still was not sure if I should contact my siblings, or Lin – actually contacting Lin was the thing that stuck in my stomach like a pentapus. I knew that I had let us drift apart after Uncle Sokka's death, because it was the easy way out. Lin had wrapped onto Tenzin like a second skin in that time, which mostly made me worry because it was Tenzin. Actually Yumi had prevented me from threatening Tenzin, or giving Lin a rather rough pep talk more than once. But since I´ve gotten no messages that contained a break up everything should be fine. In retrospect, I had to give my younger brother one thing. He was the one who held his people together – maybe not without arguments and hassles, but he did it. So I supposed that Lin finally was leading a live she wanted – nobody could be so retarded and follow the shadow of an almighty mother figure for half a decade! Captain Dee had already gotten a guide on the ship. The man stood behind the Steering wheel and circled the heavy trawler through the muddy waters as if he had grown up on this ship. "Dad – are you thinking about things? You know, I´ve been thinking about fighting real matches." She stated calmly. I grumbled in agreement.

Sokka always had a weakness for giving a performance and so entering a real dojo was the logic conclusion. Combat sports were extremely en vogue, and thanks to the overexploitation of probending in the last decades the good old hand to hand combats had a comeback. Surely Sokka had gone probending, if there were not the measly fact that airbenders weren´t allowed in. One reason more to take no interest in that sport, if you ask me my dear readers. "Good kid, I guess I´ve got to think of some advices till then. Just to make this clear Sokka… I´ll not hinder you doing what you want, but please let me find a place for myself before you go off in the city and search yourself a place. I want you to know where you can find me and that thing CAN swallow people." I hassled of my chest, while pointing on the colossus of Republic City. Sokka's head softly bumped against mine, I could vividly remember a time when she did not even reach my torso. I ruffled her hair and returned to work. Actually we had a deck to clean and a ship to unload. It was hard work to roll the heavy barrels over just four span broad planks, but luckily I could correct the tumbling barrels with airbending. If Sokka had to respond to the same unfair methods I did not find out. "Hah old man you´re busted, that´s the fifteenth!" Sokka yelled in triumph as she was rolling a barrel towards the delivery trucks that were already arranged.

Captain Dee seemed to have deeper connections in Republic than the average fisherman, which made me think twice about the true nature of his business. Most likely the guy was smuggling things, but that was luckily no concern of mine. Actually smugglers had never been criminals in my eyes, they did not hurt innocent people, did not steal from the poor…they just made money. "Ah shaddap ya lil brat." Six finger Han laughed, while he actually lifted one of the barrels onto a delivery truck. "That´s a man´s work girly. Twenny four." He huffed his chest, while eying my daughter rather chrm… obvious. Sokka responded playfully "In your dreams old man Han." I breathed in deeply and rolled another barrel onto the truck. Meanwhile there weren´t any new vehicles arriving and so it was no wonder that Captain Dee cracked his whip and yelled. "Enough yer measly sea-rats. Work´s done for today. Lee come to my office!" he stated. While Sokka furrowed her brows and mumbled. "That fucking old geezer should hand my money to me." I obeyed the Captain. I was rather sure that this was about some extra cash for good work, nothing more and nothing less. We weren´t hired hands and such I was rather curious.

Of course and old tar jacket like Dee would not hand money to a woman – not if he wasn´t in a brothel or an inn. Sokka nevertheless was silently griping about this. The hands just laughed at her, which actually drove my daughter even more into a fit. I joined the Captain, who was standing on the bridge. "You´ve called for me sir?" I asked politely. Captain Dee was a fair boss, but he insisted on being respected, actually Sokka barely managed to escape being lashed for disrespectful behavior. I guessed that was just the case because she was a woman, and such whipping was not considered…proper. She had to clean the latrines and take night watches though. "Yes Lee, here´s something extra for ya. Spend it wisely on soju an bitches." He responded twinkling. I just laughed heartily and gripped the two yuan he was handing me in silver coins. "Thank you Sir – may the winds be with you on your way home." I answered and bowed shortly.

The weathered sailor just nodded "ya too Lee." With that I was a free man again, I already had decided to hand the money to Sokka, but of course I would wait with it until the final farewell. Sokka already was talking with the hands, who had lined up in front of the bride, obviously eager to receive their payment. "Yeah I guess I´ll drop by in this tiger´s den guys." Sokka answered Han and some of his buddies. "Awesome countin on ya Sokka ya know the drinks are on me." He reassured her. Actually I was feeling slightly unwell about this, but Sokka was old enough! "Well- gotta go, say farewell to the old man and such. I guess I know where I´ll find ya." She waved, earned a few hugs and then caught up to me. "Ah, so you have a thing for older guys." I dryly remarked. My daughter let out a gargling sound. "You´re the WORST dad – guys like HAN just -yuck!" she shook her shoulders. "Hey I´m just worrying about my unborn grandchildren…" I quipped and earned myself a rather rough slap on the head. "So you´re not entering one of the most famous brothels of Rep City tonight?" I also added, of course I knew what the tiger´s den was.

"Nope – firstly the dancers will have saggy tits and shitty makeup, there surely are no nice guys and finally - I´m no hooker dad? SO FUCK NO!" Sokka was rambling, while I grinned broadly. Teasing Sokka - one of the things I´d miss most in the days to come, so I had to make the most of today. "But why do YOU know about this tiger´s den…" she squinted her eyes at me. "Because I was a cop – and your mother loved the bar there, really made some damn good Cactus Sunset back the day and…" I responded while Sokka let out a horrified shriek. "What, the drinks are good and insanely cheap kid – always drink in brothels if ya can, it´s like the cake and the cactus juice stores." I defended myself, while raising my hands. "TOO MUCH DETAILS!" she whimpered overdramatic. "You´re traumatizing your INNOCENT and SWEET daughter with your brothel stories! You even sully my DEAD MOTHERS NAME!" She bickered. I just looked right and left. "Where? Just tell me, where is this innoce..." now I got Sokka really mad and she launched herself in a string of curses even her mother would have been proud of. "Where are we even heading dad?" Sokka asked me. "Towards the foreign office, get ourselves registered as citizens? That´ll cost four hundred yuan each – or we have to prove jobs, relatives that vow for us…things we don´t have." I stated. "Erm…we could ask one of your brothers, who are like – filthy rich?" Sokka mentioned.

"I mean, this Bumi guy owes you his pinkie… that should be worth some yuans." She trailed off. I chuckled, Yumi had told my kid a lot of stories that weren´t meant for the ears of a six year old, I noticed – again. "If he were in town I would consider it, but the guy has joined the Forces as you also know. He just was on vacation, when the pinkie story took place." I explained. "But you can join Ten-Ten´s monastery club if you want…" Sokka snorted, rolling her eyes. "Please dad – that´s just a bunch of crazed vegetarian baldies, have you ever read one of their "Call to the nomads" flyers?" Sokka asked me. I shrugged, of course I had not! I was surprised to find mostly water tribe people in line for the foreign office. Almost all of them actually were young women around Sokka´s age. I then remembered that, with the return of the spirits, the South Pole was strongly influenced by northern immigrants and also experienced a sudden economic growth that was just comparable to republic city. Such the young men stayed, but the young women from northern families had sniffed the scent of self-esteem and such some of them first went south with their brothers, got papers – and then emigrated towards the United Republic. Non water tribe people mostly crossed the green borders of the United Republic and simply stayed. Nobody here was asking for papers unless you went for a leading position. You did not necessarily NEED to be a citizen of the united republic to lead a live here, also there were a lot of people with forged papers. The rest already were citizens of the earth kingdoms, and such valid citizens of the United Rep. "Whoa, is there some sort of ink paste giveaway or why are all that gals here?" Sokka wondered and just stumbled into a group of water tribe girls. "Hey, what´s up with just you girls hanging out here?" she simply asked the first girl that was standing in her way. The girl was clad in a worn blue robe and was leaning onto a friend. She obviously was exhausted. I also found her rather plain faced. "We´re here for…work." She choked out, her voice thickly accentuated. Not everybody was born a native Guang Zhu speaker, not that I could speak many of the countless dialects of the earthen kingdoms. BUT I did speak the Ba Sing Se dialect, which meant – the most important language on this planet. "My old man just said you can buy a citizenship, that´s nothing to do with work." Sokka responded. "Oh…you…take care of a … maiden?" the young girl asked me helpless. I just pinched my nose – really? "She Sarrla not loves impolite being Lord." A friend of hers interjected with an equally meek voice. Sokka just laughed. "So your name is Sarrla, and what´s yours Mrs. Loopies?" she asked the other girl, who was wearing a traditional southern haircut. "Korra…like…Avatar." She giggled. Gods damn it, I had to get my Inuktitut together – the councilman had tortured me with it for some years. Sokka of course had no clue of Inuktitut, which was the most difficult thing I ever tried to learn. "That´s cool, I´m Sokka Adachi." My daughter responded.

The girls giggled and spoke something in their mother tongue. "She doesn´t speak Inuktitut gals, her mother just liked the name." I choked out the guttural words I remembered barely. After months of travel the girls obviously liked the sound of her mother tongue. "You speak very well for an outlander." Sarrla responded courtly, her Inuktitut had the nasal tone of the north. "Thank you. So you already have family in Republic City, female friends?" I asked them. A lot of these girls had no idea what they were facing, also a lot of them would wind up in brothels, kitchens and other places that exploited them. They both were eying me, flushing a bright pink, while Sokka was staring at me. "You SPEAK this tongue skewering nonsense dad?" she quipped in surprise. "A bit Sokka, your namesake clubbed it into me. But I still sound like a toddler." I responded. The girls giggled. "So you just came here from – like the other end of the world Sarrla, without knowing anyone here?" Sokka asked disturbed. "I´ll not offend you, but you don´t seem very kickass, if you read me?" she blurted out. I had to stifle a laughter at that.

"Kickass…manly….as…you?" Sarrla asked sweetly as Sokka just opened her mouth like a koi fish. "You…hair." Korra added. "That´s fashionable…and furthermore this long mops just get dirty all the time!" she pouted as adorable as my late wife. "You…knew…housing?" Korra asked with a pleading look that actually got to me. These kids were helpless, and most likely there was no way back for them. They had broken with their families, had no father to return to if Republic City did not work out. "Uh…nope – guess we´ll search ourselves an inn somewhere and look tomorrow." Sokka spoke determined. "Sounds like a plan." I added. "You can accompany us if you want." I added shrugging. Korra and Sarrla blushed deeply, I just remembered something the councilman had told me about the water tribes. "Not like that – we´re not family." I responded and the girls let out deep sighs. "So what kind of jobs will you be applying for- erm searching." I corrected my choice of words.

"Cooking…cleaning…woman´s work." Sarrla responded. "What are you and your cousin striving for?" Korra asked me. I simply lost my face. Cousin, was this kid seriously thinking Sokka was my COUSIN! "Are you disturbed Sir?" Sarrla again switched to her mother tongue. "Isn´t Sokka your cousin?" she added. "More like – my daughter…." I blurted rather loudly, some of the other people turned their heads briefly. The girls stared at me wide-eyed. "But you look young…like a man who has small children!" Korra responded blushing deeply. I chuckled "I already hit the half century mark Miss Korra." I shook my head and let the shocking news sink in. Sokka was feeling left out because she just was able to follow half the conversion, mostly my part. "Dad – we can catch up." Sokka stated loudly and moved forward, since the queue had shortened drastically. I was wondering if we would make it today, or if we had to wait for another day. The harbor district wall undoubtedly would be finished up till know, they had started building it as me and Yumi were about to leave republic city. So the government at least limited the smuggling to acceptable amounts – as was told the public. When we had almost reached the foreign office desks in the big brick building, they finally closed. A fur clad middle-aged man rose and yelled in Inuktitut, not even bothering to look if there were non water tribe immigrants. "For today the office is closed. Ladies and Gentlemen, please leave and enjoy your stay in the harbor district of the United Republic until our officials can check your papers. Please leave and don´t cause any trouble." He yelled.

Since the most people here were docile, young gals from the northern tribes the mass of people started flowing outside chattering in a cacophony of voices that made me almost deaf. "Sokka." I yelled as the tall girls from the water tribes shoved me around as if I was a pipsqueak. It was a bustling and when I finally made it out of here I was searching for my daughter. She had to be here somewhere. This was the hour the leopard sharks had waited for, as soon as the officials had left the foreign office locked up, carts with grilled fish and drinks started popping up on the street. Also more and more suspicious looking men arrived and started talking to the girls. The most of them were wets of course, you could see from their blue, bear dog fur adorned vests, their scars and tattoos. They were men of the monsoons, or some other triads. Soon I found Sokka, who was munching some kebabs. "You´ve bought them themselves, did you?" I asked my daughter slightly worried, who knew what these guys mixed into their kebabs. The men were mingling amongst the girls, leading some of them to the stalls or into side alleys. Most likely to make them sign fake contracts or drug them.

"Eh – of course. Some scary looking wet wanted to invite me for a drink. Was really fumbly, so I gave him a little uppercut. He actually looked rather stunned as I responded that my muff was not saggy enough for old farts." Sokka stated casually while shaking her right hand. I had to stifle a laugh as I imagine a deadpanning Sokka saying THIS to a triad man. "That´s really strange with these guys, do they try to sack in these girls or what?" Sokka mused, while I sighed. "You´re a smart one. That´s exactly what is going on – no way I´m going up against twenty guys though." I responded angered. Sokka was grinding her teeth. "Bastards." She spit on the floor in disgust. Interestingly the sound of two Satomobiles drove all of the men off. They ran into alleys, and shortly afterwards you heard the roar of engines. Some of the young girls were staring in the night, wondering how their benefactor had vanished so fast. The stalls and carts of course remained where they were. The traders had not done anything illegal after all. The arriving Aatomobiles belonged to the republic police force. Interestingly the four officers were metalbenders, they wore their characteristic armors and cables. The men were walking up and down the street, one of them whizzed his cable out in the darkness.

A crashing sound and he dragged a cursing and yelling man back in the light of the gas lanterns. It was one of the dudes that had been hanging around here. Sokka smirked. "That bud´s going behind bars tonight." She smiled devilish. My daughter walked up to the officer, who was restraining the man who loudly was yelling about police violence and the misuse of power. The officers seemed to be prepared for a long night, two of them were bending tables and benches out of the ground. She spoke with the officer. "That crazy bitch is lying!" the man yelled out of the top of his lungs. "Oh yeah – you didn´t say you wanted a piece of these heh – shitty scoundrel!" my daughter was screaming. "You wanted to rape me, I still feel dizzy because of two sips of melon juice!" Sokka raged, while the officer whipped the triad man with his second cable. For a moment I thought about involving myself in the affair than I decided. I would let the kid handle it, I had to reserve a resting place as close to the foreign office as possible. I spread out my blankets directly in front of the heavy wooden doors of the office and used my rucksack as a pillow. Tomorrow I undoubtedly I would be stiff from the hard, uneven cobblestones but that could not be helped. Sokka was talking with the officer for some time, which led to some of the water tribe girls flocking around her. Obviously a lot of reports were made this evening, because even the colleagues of the guy rose from their seats and joined him.

The arrested man in the meanwhile was bound to a police car, the girls passed him one by one and spit on the floor, some even smacked him in the face. The only one who did not partake in this punishment was Sokka who returned to me humming. "Was that the guy you hit?" I asked her. "Huh – no, of course not. But he´s the same so – serves him right!" she quipped. I was not sure if I should scold my daughter for lying or be proud of her compassionate streak. "You know that you committed a crime that could bring you behind bars for twelve years." I stated dryly. My daughter's eyes went wide. "What – I was just helping out the law dad! You can´t be pissed about that – who taught me that you can´t just look away when people harassed." Sokka rambled. I gripped my head. "Yeah – It´s not about me, I´m just pointing out facts kid." I responded, still troubled. "Good night Sokka." I turned on my Rucksack. My daughter snorted and muttered something, while preparing her own sleeping space. I definitely identified the words "old geezer". Most likely my daughter was right, but could a good father animate his daughter to commit crimes, hell no!

Sokka turned groaning and sighing, as I noticed the many times I woke up in the night. It was rather chilly without a blanket. The water tribe gals mostly were even unluckier than me and Sokka, because they had no blankets at all, which meant they huddled together in the staircases of the neighboring houses, like flocks of blue white penguins. I was almost entering dreamland again as a panicked voice woke me. Sokka already was snoring soundly. "Have you seen my friend Sarrla." It was one of the young girls we had met before. Korra was the name if I recalled it right. "No – have your searched the street already?" I asked rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Sokka did not open her eyes, grumbled "shut up dad" and turned on the other side. Korra´s hands were trembling, the girl was short of breaking into hysteric sobs, and I felt pity for her. "Y-yes I´ve looked ev- everywhere... She´s she..." She sniffled with her shoulders trembling like leaves. "Well, let´s look together again. Just to make sure – if you want I can also talk with the officers." I offered here. "No…No police." She stammered frightened and cried even harder.

"S-Should never have listened….w-we should jus…married … like we …should." Her face was just inches away from mine, I sighed and patted her shoulder. She was so beyond herself that she did not even notice that I made her sit down on my blankets. The girl was balling up and cried silently. I just patted her back, rubbing in small circles as I had done with Sokka. It took a felt eternity until she finally stopped, her eyes without a doubt were puffy and her nose running, too. I sadly had no handkerchief ready. "Thank you…I´m cold." She responded with a small voice. "Sarrla would´ve never gone with these men." She spit out. She sniffed "I´m just a silly girl, what should I do? The world is not made for women. Had I just listened to my parents! But now I´ll never get a reliable man, only thing I can do is going to the whores." She whimpered. "Nonsense!" I interrupted harshly. The night had long fallen, just the torches of the policemen and the signal fires of the ships did give the harbor district some light. The girl turned her head and eyed me.

"You don´t need to pity me Sir…I´ve brought this fate over myself." She stated battered. "There is no such thing as fate kid, if there were I´d have never left Ba Sing Se, gods kid I´m a son of a whore myself and I got a company up and running as I was thirty. There are women like Katara daughter of Kya, Toph Bei Fong…you think they had it any inch easier than you?" I responded barely managing to whisper. "B-but they were awesome, talented and beautiful." I started chuckling. "See – you´re laughing at me now." She responded bitter, clenched her fists and got up. "Until Sokka was born my wife worked a man's job, kid. My daughter learned the way of the sword since she was three. The world is not the Northern Water Tribe Korra – this is Republic city, a place where you define yourself. The law says you are equal to men – so if you have more wits and hit harder then them, you´ll sit amongst them." I stated the truth. Korra turned. "You taught your daughter – fighting?" she asked amazed. "Of course, it´s important to be strong, most important thing of all." I spoke, not noticing that Sokka was awake and listening.

"And her fiancé, how does he deal with that – I mean, your daughter is rather feisty." She gulped "She has one hasn´t she, she´s a beautiful girl!" I blinked. "Not that I knew. That´s her business – it´s her husband and not mine, if it ever comes to that." I responded. "It´s a fathers duty to teach his kids what´s good and what isn´t Korra – the rest is up to them." The young woman looked at me in silence. The silence stretched and became uncomfortable. "Your daughter is lucky sir." She responded silent, while I simply laid back. I was sleepy, and if I wanted to wake up before dawn. A young woman was staring into the star laden sky. "You´re the first one to believe that I can do anything." She chuckled "A total stranger does understand me better than my own family. What a sick joke." The water tribe girl sat there in silence as I drifted off into sleep. My hands closed around my purse, like in the days of my youth. While I was almost away I heard Sokka talking to somebody, but I could not drive myself to understand her words. The hard labor had drained my strength for today.

Authors note: And my dear readers, what am I doing wrong, or maybe I´m just doing it right...please tell me. Greetings from InTheHood, and *read the avatar´s mistake in the ATLA section* I´m totally not above advertising my own stuff.

Beta note: This story will make sense if you don't/didn't read The Avatar's Mistake, but if you do it will be a lot better. There is a large time skip, but some plot musings are directly from the previous story and won't make sense unless you read it. -BnaditCorps


	5. spreading one s wings

**Chapter 5: spreading one´s wings**

"Welcome in the United Republic Miss Adachi." The officials voice still rang in Sokka´s head. She looked at the small card, made of grayish carton. That was her most prized possession, from now on, and it was the most expensive piece of carton she ever bought. Well, her father had bought it. What was going on in the old man's head, she had expected him to plead her to stay, or at least to ramble and give her thousands of unnecessary advices… He seemed unreadable and was chewing on a kebap like there was no care in the world. All the busy chatting and rushing of the people was rather irritating – why could they not take their time to do things? The people in Lau An also had to work. They had to work hard for their living, but nevertheless they weren´t hectic like this! Also Sokka noticed the stares of the young girls, the slightly superior smirks she would have loved to beat out of their faces. It had to be really obvious that she was some dumb country chick, a feeling the young woman loathed. Different from Lau An nobody paid attention to her haircut, which she had thought of as rather provocative, here many girls had short hair – even if it was not as short as hers.

And the clothes the young women wore looked really different. Sokka herself wore a deep red top and wide, black pants that were typical in the firenation. There was no need for jackets, or robes but a lot of people in republic wore these despite the hot weather. Everywhere traders and merchants tried to sell their wares, which were of a diversity Sokka had never seen before. Exotic spices and dishes flavoured the air and the young woman would have loved to taste them all. Her eyes were sparkling as she eyed the firebenders, who displayed their art, eating flames and creating burning animals that danced through the air. While the young woman was bouncy and took a closer look at almost everything that surrounded she was followed by her father, who was searching a flat to rent. The old man stayed so cool it was almost unbelievable, it seemed he did not even notice that the stalls were there. She had never believed her mother that her caring father, Lee Bei Gao, had been a shirshu in his youth, but it seemed that Sokka did not know all sides of her father. Actually she was far from eager to explore this city without him at her side. She felt like she needed somebody who knew what was going on here, because she did not! But that was out of question, she had said she would walk her own path in Republic City and she would! How embarrassing would it be to go back to daddy like a little child!

No, Sokka Adachi would NOT do such a thing, for a short moment her face looked serious and determined, until she detected an miniature steam train that was huffing though an artistic looking spice stall. The small white clouds looked rather cute, as did the whole train, which would fit into her hands easily. "Look at that dad – its beautiful." She exclaimed in a childlike glee, which led to her blushing – yes, she totally behaved like a countrybumpkin. Her father smirked and responded dryly "Yes, that´s a miniature train." That was all, he did not even properly look at it! Sokka turned her head just to see her father studying a board on which many hand written postings were located. There were the profiles of wanted criminals, notes that sold used furniture, steamcarparts – there was even a small placate that advertised a nail salon, whatever that was! And there also were flats written out, as Sokka looked at the prices her heart almost stopped. It was so expensive – in Lau An you would have been able to rent a whole inn for that amount of money, and the flat that was advertised there yust had a kitchen, and a bedroom. You even had to share the bathroom with three of your neighbors, and there stood nothing about free coal! Sokka was shocked, how should she earn enough money to pay for such a flat, she really had to hit it big, for if she didn´t she would stay on the streets. Interestingly there also were a lot of job advertisements. While her father ripped off some slices of paper from some postings Sokka started reading:

 _Hands wanted; you work hard, you are not afraid to dirty your hands, start your career at future industries electronics._

 _We need you in our production lines. With our special employee training programs, the way into leading positions is a child's play, we pay twice the minimum wage (243 yuan per month)_

 _Join us for a brighter Future, visit our recruitment office in Avatar Street 21-34_

That surely was reassuring, even with a shitty job in a production line you could rent a small flat and had enough money to pay your food. Of course there were no fancy new clothes, or visiting restaurants, but being a worker simply meant staying at the bottom of the food chain. I´ll definitely start with 400; Sokka promised herself, even if she was not sure what kind of job she would be doing for starters. "So, you´re done reading kid, I´m going to check some flats out." Her father responded. "I guess I also found a job – this noodle cart could be a gold mine." He smirked looking at least twenty years younger than he was. It was a shame her father stayed a single man, Sokka would have felt much less guilty to move out if he had a girlfriend – or even a wife! Spirits her mother was death for thirteen years, and Lee Bei Gao was a man in his golden years - as the people said! And if she was being objective she had to admit that the years had been very generous to her father, who did not look like fifty at all.

"A noodle cart dad? I mean, your noodles are awesome but – aren´t there already tons of noodle carts in this city?" she asked disturbed and pointed at a cart that sold dumplings. Sure he could feed himself with a noodle cart, but he had to think about a time when he could not work anymore…yes absolutely no pressure on my shoulders, the young woman added in her head. She still was thinking about how to get into the combat sport. Sure, she just could go and challenge a dojo, but nevertheless that was no guarantee that she would be brought into some events. Damn, she just had no idea where to meet the right people! So she should join a big dojo and open her ears, but in the meanwhile she somehow had to stuff her mouth and pay the tuition too whatever Sifu she chose! She simply took one of the slices from the future industries production line. The shifts should not be more than nine to ten hours, so she would be able to attend a dojo somehow, at least she hoped that. "I´ve got a special plan kiddo..To be precise I´ll feed myself on golden badges, because I know perfectly well what they eat!" her father responded smiling. Sokka herself had her doubts about that, but her dad would do what he wanted anyways.

"Well, then let´s look at these flats." He sighed. "I guess they´ll all be rubbish but the money sits tight." He responded. "Well, you at least have SOME money dad." Sokka responded biting her lips instantly. She was rather sure that her father would give her some money before she left, just as he always had done when she went to the fire festival, or other celebrations back home. The older man smirked. "I suppose fourhundred and two yuan are some money Sokka...Actually I wanted to make it more dramatic." He feigned a crushed mimic. Sokka had to laugh at that. She hugged her father tightly and inhaled the scent that had made her feel at home as long as she was able to think. "You know that´s really not necessary dad, I thought you need this noodle cart." She mumbled releasing him. He ruffled her hair, which made her snort. She was no little child any more, when in all heavens would he stop ruffling her hair! "Of course I have already subtracted my flat and the noodle cart Sokka – it´s always good to have some money nobody knows about." He stated in a sing song voice.

She could not stop wondering, since they had left home behind her father seemed happier than before. When he thought himself unobserved, he never stared into nothingness sighing. Also he seemed full of energy and motivation. Maybe moving on was something Lee Bei Gao had to do literally. She was sure she would not ask him, Sokka was not that brave. They were leaving the commerce area of Republic city and entered a thing Sokka could just describe as bad neighborhood. Obscene comments like "die Avatar whore – revenge for Amon" , "Down with the Council", "All HAIL THE PHOENIXKING" or "Akizuki Jun is a motherfucker" were adorning the walls everywhere. Also the streets were full of garbage, and what was even more descriptive, the display windows of the lone shops were reinforced with iron bars, almost every door had more than one lock – Sokka decided never to lease the house without some kind of weapon on her.

Nevertheless, there weren´t much homeless or unemployed people to be seen on the streets. Just a few teenagers that were smoking something out of cheap looking clay pipes and eyed them warily. Her father spit on the floor. "Mooneaters kid, if you see a group of these guys take yer legs and run – that´s the craziest scum on earth." He muttered under his breath. Sokka knew how her father loathed any drugs, even if she smoked more than one pipe a day he would bash out some snarky remarks, most likely that was because he grew up in Shangyang of all places. "I´ll keep that in mind, but do you really want to rent a flat here?" she asked her father. "I don´t want to, but these flats here are the only ones cheap enough that I can rent two of them – which is necessary for making the sauces and fonds." He lectured her. That made sense, even though Sokka would never have thought about it. Than he entered a house, the staircase was rather damp and filled with dumpsters. Her father hurried upstairs and forcefully knocked onto a door. It took a while until a small sight window was opened in the heavy looking door.

"Whaddaya want." A man with a hoarse voice grunted. "I´m interested in yer shitty flats man." Her father responded. He was standing different, cocky - it was something new to Sokka. "You have cash?" the man responded, Lee Bei Gao just weighed his heavy pouch in his hands. Suddenly there was the sliding and clanking of metal parts. Four Locks, seriously? Finally, the man opened the door. He was about a head taller than her father, wore shabby grey robes and had a stubby beard. His eyes were grey. He looked at Sokka with a disgusting smile. The young woman stared into his eyes and then wandered down on his body, as she arrived on his private parts she smiled a pitiful smile. The old pervert turned his reddening head rather fast, while the girl felt a moment of triumph. "Well if ya have finished staring at my kid, show me the damned flats!" her father boomed. His voice suddenly was so loud, Sokka was a bit startled. "No friggin problem man. But I ain´t selling rat holes." The owner responded. Sokka bit her tongue, she most definitely would have to sleep in such a hellhole, too.

Or she had to take this Korra girl up on her offer, but somehow she did not like the idea of living in a house, with six girlies from the north pole! The walked up until he stood at the eight floor, directly beyond the tiles and wooden constructions of the roof. While Sokka was musing about how cold this would be in winter her father was crouching on the floor and scrambling into the most distant corners of the flats and shoving the furniture around. The owner looked at him with an annoyed frown. "So, you said 75 for one flat, right?" Lee stated. "That´s the deal." The owner replied. "You never wonder why nobody want´s to live here?" Lee smirked. The furniture was old and shabby, as Sokka noticed, but she had no idea what her father meant. "That´s as damp as a rhino-ass man, and it´s windy as fuck. I´ll hand you 60 for each flat, and I take your garage, the other flats without furniture." Lee stared at the other man, who was fiddling with his mustache. He groaned "Nah, that´s impossible man." He sighed stricken. "Ok, sorry to have bothered you pal." Her father turned towards the door, Sokkas eyes flew wide – that could not be for real could it? Sokka followed her father with a nonchalant shrug. "What!" the man stood there scratching his head, but her father was already heading downstairs. "Eh – come on man, let´s talk about this!" the house owner yelled. Her father halted. "There´s nothing to blabber dude, yes or fuck off!" he blurted. The silence stretched and her father indeed took another step as a hastily response came. "Ok,ok – you pay cash and front up – deal?" the man responded. Her father turned smirking. "We have a deal." He responded and returned upstairs. He counted the coins into the man's hands, while the guy did almost start drooling. Lee than received the keys to the flats and the garage. The owner was whistling the girls of Ba Sing Se as he took off, Sokka could vividly imagine where he was headed.

Her father eyed the flats with furrowed brows. "Like hell I´ll stay here for a year." He wrinkled his nose. "This shithole needs some good soapy water." He stated while he sat down his rucksack and dragged a Katana out of it. Was that meant to be a present as well? Sokka always had dreamed of an own sword, but her father had denied her that. Swords still were expensive, if you wouldn´t accept some outworn military equipments. He placed it on his bedside. "So – Sokka. I guess we keep it short do we?" he tried to sound stern bit failed miserable, actually Sokkas throat constricted and she felt like laughing and crying all at once. She finally left her father to walk a path of her own, but there also was a part of her that wanted to come back the instant she sat a foot out of this flat. Her father took a small pouch out of his rucksack, it was made of red velvet. Sokka recognized it at once, it had been one of her mother's most prized possessions. She gulped and took the pouch, which she silently stuffed into her backpack. Even she knew that such a pouch would be stolen before she had rounded the corner. Sokka opened her arms and awaited a final hug, but instead her father went to his backpack again and dragged out an almost arm long package.

Sokka at once knew what it was. "No – no dad - you – no that´s…" she stammered. He could not be thinking of giving THAT to her! As a child she hadn´t even been allowed to touch his sword, let alone draw it. Her father was smiling, with a moist glint in his eyes. "Shut up squirt – either you take it or it goes to the dumpster." He simply crossed the room and pressed the precious blade in her hands. His voice sounded raspy, her father was always close to crying when he called her squirt. "Wanted to give you that since that day you took me down for the first time – never been an appropriate setting, ya know." He responded while the young woman took the more than a hundred-year-old blade in her hand and then hugged her father with brute force. She sniffed once and mumbled an "Idiotic old geezer." After what felt like a minute she wanted to let go, but her father held her firm. "You know you´ll always have my back Sokka, no matter what!" he croaked and then released her. "And if you attend a dojo –and somebody tries to pick on you - smash him to pieces, even if you think you´re dying that´s the only occasion you cannot lose." Her father was dead serious. Sokka grit her teeth, because you´re just a woman, that was the part that her father had left of.

Even if she liked that her old man did not say it, she knew she had to be fiercer than a man because she never would be able to close the difference in physique otherwise, but hell she would be! "So long." She responded, her voice sounding rather whimpy. "bye." Her father responded. She left the flat and closed the door. Her father did not follow her. Sokka Adachi waited and then descended the stairs, the old sword at her side. Since it was already way past midday she sighed. She simply would crash on Korras, and her girls couch – if they had one of course. Today she most likely would not find a flat on her own, furthermore she felt strained from the day in Republic City, the fact that she also was having her period did not better things at all. So she just had to move towards the borders of Tui market district, which meant she had a long way to go, because it was close to the Spirit portal, as Korra had told her.

The watertribe girl had not slept well last night, as Sokka herself. But different from her she had talked with a lot of girls in her strange language. And she indeed found a place to stay, even for the both of them. She walked, always a hand on her sword. She was eying the corners and alleys intently. There was no way she would get jumped, the evening in Lau An still was a livid memory. She had just been lucky that the armed guys did think she was a weak girl, otherwise she would never have been able to topple one of them with an airblast and run away. And what would have happened then – the lone thoughts made Sokka feel as if she wanted to curl up in the tiniest hole she could find. Nevertheless, she walked on straight. She was behaving pathetic, just because this city was bigger than Lau An, that did not mean that she was more dangerous, there were just more people. Luckily she managed to dodge all groups of suspicious looking men, which were just two.

Then she had made it into the commerce district, which now was almost empty. There were just some shop owners sitting in front of a teahouse, drinking tea and chatting. What Sokka almost disturbed was the diversity of people that seemed to coexist peacefully. All four nations were assembled here and not even she was stared at. In Lau An she and her father had been the only people with eyes that weren´t brown or golden. Here it seemed nobody even noticed her. She Just stopped in front of mechants, the men eyed her with wary eyes, staring at the sword at her hips. Seemingly it was an uncommon sight in Republic City, in the firenation much more people wore blades on daily basis. "Good evening gentlemen, could you please explain me how I get to Tui market 23?" she asked the men. The guys stopped their chattering and looked at the young woman shocked. "Are you crazy! The dawn is near and you want to walk near the spirit forest. Haven´t you heard of the people that got lost…Just all swoosh!" A man responded upset. "Ah come come Lung that´s just the blabbering of ol grannys. Forget the spirits are there all day – curse that damn Avatar!" a younger man responded.

"And if you don´t believe it´s dangerous, why do you not accompany the young lady Zheng?" the older man shot back. "Uh….I don´t know her?" the younger man responded, he was obviously related to Lung. They both were thickly earthnationers in fashionable green suits. "Pff….do I look like I need an escort pals?" Sokka frowned. Spirits – her father had told her that spirits weren´t half as dangerous as people liked to say. In fact, she preferred her father's judgement about these obvious cowards. Furthermore, she had no interest in ENTERING the spirit forest "See Lung – she´s not interested, and what kind of rude man would pressure a lady." Zheng stated triumphantly and sipped his tea. "If you two have stopped bantering, I want to actually answer the Miss´s question." A third merchant intervened. He was thin as a rail and looked like people of all four nations had been amongst his ancestors. "I second that pals." Sokka quipped slightly annoyed. It was quite funny to scare these guys just by absentmindedly toying with the wooden grip at her side. "You follow this street five blocks. Than you go right, into Ryo Avenue. You walk down the street until there is a shop for leatherwares – the side alley is very narrow; I would advise you to be really careful because I´ve heard of thugs hanging out there." The man replied. Sokka nodded seriously – she would remind these words. "When you have crossed the alley you turn right again and follow the street until you reach the spirit forest, mostly it will look like giant vains.

You head right and then you just have to find the house number 23. If you want to cut the alley out you´ll have to pass through a piece of the vines, which I guess is even more dangerous!" The man finished concerned. "You understood that young lady? I really advise you to not go there now, search an Inn and wait until tomorrow." The man responded, but Sokka would definitely not pay a quarter yuan just because somewhere might be some thugs! "Yeah, good night then gentlemen." She responded and turned on her heels, the directions were rather simple. Indeed, the hood started getting more and more rugged. There were houses that looked demolished, most likely by the invasion of Kuvira. The facades were torn open, parts of roofs cleanly blown away in a straight line across the street. The streets were dead, even if the dawn had not broken. She shortly afterwards found the leatherwares shop, which just had very small, windows with heavy looking, brass hewn shutters. Sokka turned towards the side alley.

Indeed, it was so narrow just one person at a time could pass. She drew her sword, the flowing lines of the dragon steel glinting in the sun, she looked behind her – nobody was to be seen. Her jaw set she entered the alley, the faster she left it behind the faster the danger would be left behind. It was almost dark as the young women speedily jogged though the alley. She had already left the biggest part of the alley behind as doors banged open, a tall figure jumped out in the alley approximately two strides in front of her. Sokka felt something bury itself into her thick backpack "Freeze, give us yer money!" the man yelled. "What the fuck are you doin striker, we´re not killing people for thrills fucktard!" somebody else yelled. "Shitty whimps!" another guy blurted back. Sokka faced a spear point her hand shot forward and grabbed the bamboo and pushed it sideways, her short sword cut the leading hand of the spear wielder who yelled in pain. The young woman roared and pushed the thug aside air hissing somewhere around her, she started running. There was yelling behind "outta the way asshole – Imma kill that bitch!" a man roared, for the first time in her young life the time seemed to have slowed down. She threw herself on the ground hitting it hard. O geez – these fuckers ruin my pants, she was annoyed.

A spear hit the ground directly in front of her nose. Her breath was going in big heaves, adrenaline rushing through her veins, she scrambled back on her feet, gabbed the spear with her free hand and started running, instinctly turning right. She did not look back but continued running, later she threw the spear away because she almost tripped oved the damn thing. Her chest was stinging, her left hand bleeding from a cut, knees and forearms torn open as the pain kicked in. Sokka halted breathing shakily and turned, her hands trembling. There was nobody to be seen anymore. That had been close. "Holy fuck." She felt her face spread into a maniacal grin. "Go to hell motherfuckers!" she yelled laughing hysterically, while feeling dizzy from exhaustion. She still held her sword in hands and tried to sheath it, she needed three tries. Then she stumbled on feeling totally exhausted as the bliss of the moment faded. She had to sit down and calm herself, what was the house number again? Was she even right? There were big green things that pulsed and piled themselves up to giant heaps, in the middle the spirit portal rose to the heavens, which made the area bright as daylight. The cut in her hand burned like fire, she hissed. It was bleeding heavily; it was her own sharp blade that had cut her she supposed.

Sokka Adachi felt her heart thunder in her body, and then she fought herself back on the feet. She inspected the house next to her closer. The small brass plate said 145 – so she was way past the address she had aimed for. "Fuck. I just want some bandages, and fire lily paste." She groaned frustrated. She shook her head, somehow this first day was rather fucked up. Her stomach also had started to feel as if some blades were churning inside it – again! Gods damn it – why in all heavens had somebody invented the crimson days. "Shitty fucktards of gods – just go and die already." She rambled as she dragged herself down the street. The sun had already set and the heavens had turned black, just the slightly flirring portal illuminated Sokkas way as she finally reached house twenty-three. Her hand had already stopped bleeding and was stained a dark maroon. Her Arms and legs were pulsing and the Backpack seemed to weigh more than a moose lion. She stood there and hammered on the door. Nobody was coming. "Korra – come out! It´s Sokka.." nothing. "GODS DAMN IT woman come out here!" Sokka yelled, while tears started welling in her eyes, she was so done for! Had this damned bitch fooled her?

How pathetic had she been. "I´ll drag your sissy ass out here and cut you to slices you gods damned bitch… Measly traitor!" she yelled and sagged onto her knees hitting the ground in frustration." FUCK…FUCK…FUCK!" it hurt but she was so angry it could not hurt enough, what kind of idiot could one be! While her knuckles now were bleeding, too the heavy wooded door opened o slit wide. "Sokka? I…just…. needed…dress…bathroom" Sokka wasn´t believing her ears as she heard the voice of the watertribe girl. She stated to laugh in hysterics. "d-d-dress…. fucking monkey feathers…hilarious!" tears were spilling out of her eyes. It was then that Korra stepped outside, her hair open and tangled, clad in a loose hanging blue dress. As she saw how Sokka shakily rose from the ground the girl let out a horrified shriek and started babbling in her cursed mother tongue. She almost fell down the few stairs. Sokka had somehow collected herself. "We-Well can I stay on your couch?" she asked in a voice that sounded almost dead. "of course….what…happened? You….chrm…" Korra slipped back into her mothertongue seemingly upset and worried. "Just some scratches, don´t fuss around sweetie." Sokka tried to pacify the girl, then she almost slipped and just the taller girls fast reflexed stopped her from falling straight on her face. That was just so embarrassing! So much to the topic tough ass Sokka Adachi, she rambled at herself.

And SHE of all people thought of pursuing a martial arts career – pathetic! The house smelled clean, there were coats and shoes neatly lined up in the staircase. Steps were approaching. "Korra, what – spirits why are you bringing a man in our house!" a woman shrieked and tried to drag her sleeping gown beyond her knees. "I´m no guy – I´m Sokka Adachi." Sokka responded dropping her backpack with a loud thud. She being a man, with tits like these – totally! The young woman tried to stand straight and huff her chest, but failed miserably. Korra again snarled at the other four girls that appeared. They all were taller than Sokka, interestingly they all wore nigh gowns, wooly blue things that you could have used as dresses. The woman who appeared first behind Korra was around her early thirties, or so it seemed. She spoke with an air of authority. "You look pretty hurt…were you…attacked?" she asked concerned. "No- of cuz, I just love bashing through spear wielding psychos in dark alleys! Its just totally awesome, when some fucktard tries to stab you through your rucksack…running away while some guys throw javelins at you also…. also totally great – most awesome day of my life." Sokka rambled on with much gusto, without even caring that the girls had not the slightest fault in her misfortune.

She caught her breath, while the girls broke into hysteric blabbering. The older women just gripped her at the shoulders and led her into a bathroom. "that looks bad." She started pouring Sokka a bath. "First we need to clean these wounds on your arms and legs, shall I help you getting out of your clothes." She responded sweetly. "I`m Kayar by the way. I work as a nurse, so I´ve taken these girls in…if you can toss in some yuans in the pot you´re welcome. My younger sister Nana married some weeks ago, so she moved out." She explained softly, while Sokka had to gulp – it would be more than pathetic if she started crying now. Her father would surely laugh at her for behaving like a whimpy girly! "Yes please." She mumbled in defeat, her right hand was not movable without causing REAL pain. The woman expertly helped her out of the top. "You´re not from the watertribes but you have a southern name, how´s that?" she asked. "Umm…mom´s been a big fan of the wolf of the south I guess." Sokka responded shrugging. To tell the woman that her dad was a son of Avatar Aang and met Councilman Sokka on weekly basis was no option here. Sometimes it sucked, when nobody would believe the truth! "So – you really – fought against an armed man and defeated him?" Kayar asked unbelieving. "I mean, you´re a woman like me - not an Avatar." She responded giggling. "Eh girl, if that fuckers had fought me fair n square I would have oblitera…aaargh." Sokka yelled as the nurse started rubbing her abrasions with an alcohol drenched cloth. "You could at least have warned me, the young woman hissed.

There was no other sound of pain until the woman was finished. Kayar looked at Sokkas body shamelessly, actually Sokka was flushing pink, being naked amongst women – that was a lot more embarrassing than she had imagined! "What are you staring at?" she grumbled crossing her hands in front of her private parts. "W-Well…just…you´re looking so umm…strong.. You even have abs. And you´ve many small scars, just like a boy." She responded kindly. Sokka snorted – boy. Flowing water really was a luxury, but here in republic city it seemed to be common. "So where are you coming from Sokka?" the woman asked. "Umm. Lau An, which is a gods forsaken town in the firenation." She responded. "And why did you come here – a marriage you could not force yourself into?" the woman responded with sadness written over her face. "HELL NO – I´m here to make a name lady. You know…I´ll definitely claim the golden fan." She responded dead serious. Kayar was giggling until the laughter died on her face. "You´re nuts? Not even a Kyoshi warrior conquered the golden fan in twenty years. It´s just impossible for a woman who´s not a giant like Izumi Hakawa to go up against these guys…You know, my boyfriend was a sportsman himself." She responded, shaking her head. "And you really left your family behind for – that?" Kayar asked sceptical. "Eh – nope. Actually my dad came to Republic City, too." She responded dryly. "But since I´m almost twenty I thought it´d be a good idea to lead a live on my own." The southern woman helped Sokka climb into the water. She giggled again, Sokka frowned annoyed. "Your arms feel hard, but your skin is soft – it´s totally strange." The woman babbled. "Umm…are you into girls?" Sokka asked bluntly, Kayar war blushing furiously, it was noticeable even if her skin had the color of bronze. "Spirits no!" she rose her hands.

"Didn´t you have any sisters? It´s perfectly normal for girls to talk like this!" she asked disturbed. Sokka scratched her head. "Eh…no has just been dad and me since I was seven…and yeah I´m totally into sword fighting and stuff – but I also had boyfriends, so no worries Kayar." She smirked, while the older women let out a silent squeaking sound. Actually Sokka had to bite her teeth to stop groaning, the water was burning in her wounds. "Well. I´m going to work, just close your eyes…and don't make any strange comments Sokka!" she responded while she bowed over the tub and gripped Sokkas hand. The water became hot and slimy somehow. There was a strange tugging on her hand. The water seemed dirty and then the pain subsided, just a dull throbbing remaining.

Kayar continued with flowing, soft movements, the water was swirling like it had a mind of it´s own. So that was the famous water tribe healing the people spoke of. Finally, Kayar sighed. The water was muddy, and it felt uggly. The woman had sweat on her brow. "That cut in your hand really is a piece of work." She responded sternly. "I´ll bandage it and for the next two days you´ll not do anything with it. I don´t know if everything is all right with just one session." She added apologetic. "Sadly I´m not particularly talented if it comes to bending. I can´t even make a wave!" she stated. Sokka got out of the bath feeling a lot better, even her stomach did not hurt that bad any more. "Say, that stuff also helps against the monthly stomach-slicer?" she quipped back. Kayar needed a moment to understand what the younger woman was talking about. "Yes, that also is and advantage of knowing a healer." she responded smiling. Then she fetched a small clay pot with greenish looking ointment, treated Sokkas wound, which seemed shallower and bandaged the hand firmly. Sokka almost started sleeping, she just was so tired she could have started sleeping at once. "I´ll show you your room." She responded as Sokka just grabbed a towel and fastened it around her waist. "So – let´s go." She stated and opened the door. "Sokka you…" there again was babbling. Sokka just smiled at the girls. "Good night together." She stated exhausted, while they stared. "You…. Nightgown…no?" Korra asked her eyes as wide as marbles. Sokka chuckled. "Not tonight…" she mused and followed Kayar into a room. It was sparingly furnished but the young woman just stormed towards the bed, tossed the towel away and slipped under the sheets. She at once fell in a deep dreamless slumber.

Authors note: So here we go again and finally there is some action. You may be a bit disappointed from Sokka but actually grabbing as spear onehanded is rather difficult and...that was her first live or death situation so it´s naturally she´s not just smashing the guys up. And she found a place - femaly only WGs are totally existent in Rep City...we´re in the 20s so I´ll definitely picture the society conservative too - if you read the Avatars mistake you´ll find out that liberalisation really BOOMED in the 30 years that passed XD. Also I want to than my beta reade BnaditCorps for his support- actually you have to thank Corps nagging, for otherwise theses story would just be a TO WRITE project in my head XD.


	6. Plains of doubt

**Chapter 6: Plains of doubt**

Avatar Korra was drinking her tea, it was a fine, full-bodied first flush from the mountains of Shije Wuji – but to her just the warmth mattered that the fluid gave up as it went down her throat. She often felt cold since the day she opened the spirit portal. Even if she had tried it multiple times, she was not able to regain the Avatar state – she feared it again, but she ADMITTED she feared it now. The once muscular Avatar had become a slim woman, who might have looked graceful if her face had not displayed worry lines that belonged to somebody much older. Meelo was croaking, his voice heralding the first signs of lowering itself to a manly timbre. "Ikki, you´re still with this Toza idiot? He´s attending Kantu-Hills – HE´s THE ENEMY!" he snarled while squeezing ab piece of tofu between his chopsticks until it was torn apart. "As a man and a member of four nations elementary proving the superiority of our school is my duty! A girl of course has no understanding for a man´s responsibilities." he responded with a seriousness that sent Korra giggling, Meelo shot her a furious glance. His older sister just snorted angrily.

"The enemy, what are we – idiotic third graders? Just grow up Meelo, and furthermore you´re just jealous at Tozas good looks – and his height!" She smirked. Councilman Tenzin already went off to work, while his wife was taking care of her youngest son. Rohan had developed himself into the laziest four-year-old Korra could imagine, what kind of child could spend days watching the servants doing housework? He also was the hungriest four-year-old Korra had ever seen…he ate more than his grown Sisters! Korra could not understand how Pema could stuff her son with so much sweets and meat, he was developing a belly like an old man already. "Hmh I guess father would be REALLY interested in knowing how well shaped some of Tozas parts are." Meelo sneered superior. Korra sat down her cup, this actually seemed to get interesting. Ikki was flushing. "Puh – you´re just all talk Meelo, just search yourself a girlfriend. Oh right, some buck-teethed squirt like you will never get one." Ikki responded snidely. The two siblings really were at it, at moments like these Korra forgot she was the avatar. Meelo was blushing furiously.

"At - at least I´ll not behave like you." His voice took on a high pitched tone "Oh yes Tosa – deeper..ooarr my tigerdillo." he squealed and moaned, while his sister struck out with an extended palm. What? Ikki had slept with a guy – she was fourteen? And why in all heavens was Meelo spying on his sister? Korras jaw dropped as the airblast blew fruit pies and sesame buns from the table. Meelo was hit by fruit cream, buns and soft biscuits. He rubbed his smeared eyes furiously, cursing in the flowery language of the nomads, Korra even had forgotten the impossibly long name. "You little pervert were spying one us!" Ikki yelled on top of her lungs. Meelo was acting as nonchalant as ever. "Hmm…Mango cream, surely tastes better than Tozas." He responded licking his lips, while rolling his eyes dramatically, until just the whites could be seen. Ikki started sobbing in fury, her fists clenched. "Y-you don´t understand anything about young love – you – you -indecent person!" Whoa – Korra was totally overrun by the turn of events. "J-Just by, by – heavens I don´t even know a curse for this", she muttered in astonishment. Pema was bursting into the room.

"What…" the woman halted in her steps and just stared at Meelo, who sat in his chair, splattered with the contents of the breakfast. Her younger daughter stormed away, sobbing in hysterical fury. "Meelo – what have you done again!" his mother's voice was silent and cutting. The boy winced. "N-Nothing – Ikki started it mom – it´s true -right Korra!" he whimpered as his mother walked up to him, the usually gentle brown eyes spitting fire. "Don´t you dare and lie to me!" she responded, flexing her hand. "Into your room Meelo, I don´t want to see you today – you´re not allowed to change your clothes. Go and rethink your actions like a true airbender." She snarked. "That's unfair! I am the one who was all splattered with this stuff!" he protested pouting. "your room young man – AT ONCE!" Pema yelled, Korra had not even thought possible that pema would be able to yell. It was a shrill, piercing sound. Meelos eyes widened and her stomped off in fury. "You´re an unjust tyrant mother – and oh by the way I love FRIED FISH, goes perfectly well with ROOTBEER! Just ask my sister what she´s doing in her free time if you think that I´m the culprit here!" he shot back in a hurt voice. Korra gulped and picked up a sesame bun that had landed close to her right foot. She took a bite, it still tasted sweet, with the bean paste inside. Pema looked at the food sprayed across the dining room. "Haven´t I taught them to respect the fruits of the land." She sighed and started picking up the stuff.

Korra took pity on the middle aged woman, who was getting plump an grizzled, she had born four children after all, Korra could not imagine giving birth to even one. She collected the buns, which definitely could be eaten. "Ehm…Pema." The avatar started. "Yes Korra, I know that I´ve failed as a mother…I don´t know why Meelo is that way, he can´t have inherited this aggression from his father – or from me. We didn´t teach him like that." She sighed. "Poor Ikki, I guess I have to go upstairs and make her some honeyed milk." She added in a motherly voice. "Pema, do you know that Ikki has a boyfriend, because I have never heard the name Toza before." Korra stated, she had the opinion that Ikki was deceiving everyone with the little, innocent girl act she had perfected. Actually Korra had once wanted to burrow a novel from Ikki, one of these sappy romance books, the kid was always citing. Asami had advised her to read such a thing at least once, and who would Korra be to turn down a well meant advice from Sato Asami! Ikki was not there and so the avatar had picked the thinnest of the novels – because she had an appointment with the gang in the noon. Damn, that book had taught her some new things about having sex, and she had led a relationship with a former streetkid!

Putting things into your butthole…Korra still squirmed by the lone thought. She had highly doubted that Tenzin and Pema did know about the literature her daughter was consuming aged thirteen, but since she was no snitch she kept her mouth shut. But today an innocent….Meelo was being punished. You had to give the boy that he had not traded his sister, loyalty was something the little guy excelled at. Pema stayed on her knees as if she was dazed. "Did you just say boyfriend?" she responded in a disturbed voice. "Yeah – you daughter seems to have a boyfriend named Toza. The guy attends the Kantu hills elementary school, just ask Meelo for the details." She responded. Pema sat down, not caring that a strawtato pie stained her backside a bright red. "M-my sweet innocent baby girl! I mean, she loves romance stories but which girl does not! " Pemas eyes were bulging. Korra almost started laughing loudly. "Erm…which exactly is the topic Pema." Korra stated with a forced gentle smile – she totally could pull the serene Avatar face, couldn´t she?

"Korra, are you having a vision?" Pema asked worried. "What?" the young woman blurted " No – no, I wouldn´t respond if I had." She mumbled, visions another bullcrap feature of being the Avatar. Being reminded on that she instantly felt like her shoulders were crushed under the burden of being THE AVATAR, no matter how hard she struggled and fought. Her face became serious, hard lines etched into it. "Have you ever looked into one of the books your daughter is reading, especially in Akiko the dutiful maid? That is the only one I looked into." Korra still blushed a little. Of course Pema noticed. "Aww Korra dear, it´s not shameful to read love stories, it´s just refreshing and – sweet." The older woman smiled patting her cheek. "You just had bad luck with Mako – like Tenzin had with Lin, you just weren´t meant for each other." She responded serene. Fate – there was nothing Korra hated more than fate! Ever thought YOU were the one who wasn´t meant to be with Tenzin? Korra wanted to ask her, actually the Avatar still was not sure WHY the thing with Mako had not worked. Because if she had known there would be no, what if questions left that she could torture herself with when she was in the mood. Also she still had these dreams about him sometimes, and Asami was not the person to fill in his place.

Yes, she would call Asami the person closest to her, she definitely knew more about emotional Korra and frustrated Korra than anybody else, they even had explored the Spirit World together. It had been a trip that had fastened their bond, and if Korra knew how a person worked – this person would be Asami Sato. But finally they weren´t lovers. Kissing her had been, ok – but neither one of them had been thrilled by it. Maybe Asami was like a big, raven haired sister to her. "No – of course not, my mother always had controlled my books – I´m not going to stoop that low Korra. I still remember the shame, I was nineteen when I bought my first novel, and my mother looked though it in the book store!" Pema responded determined. "Ok. Well chrm… this quarrel betweet Ikki and Meelo was about this Toza guy, and actually.." the Avatar flushed a bright red, telling these things to Ikkis mother was the incarnation of embarrassment. "Meelo had spied on her and this guy doing – yeah you know." Korra responded smacking her hands together while Pema looked as if she had seen a ghost! "Meelo gave a rather authentic record of the scene, which was the reason for - this." She pointed at the remains of the fruit cakes.

"B-But she´s just fourteen – in, in this age I wasn´t even thinking about boys! Oh spirits – what failure of a mother am I." Pema whimpered, tears welling her eyes. They soon were replaced with fury. "What this dirty man has done to my sweet child is inexcusable!" she hissed. "I´ll contact Tenzin and then we find out who this Toza is and teach him as lesson!" she scrambled to her feet with new found vigor. "Pema? Shouldn´t you talk with Ikki first – I mean, you were rather enthusiastic with Mako visiting and staying overnight when I was sixteen?" she asked puzzled. "That´s something different you were sixteen and – you´re the Avatar Korra, you never were an ordinary little girl like Ikki." The woman responded kindly. The Breath stuck in Korras throat. She was plainly mortified, even Pema – the woman who had wiped her ass clean as she was poisoned thought that she was some kind of GOD! Had she forgotten, that she was the one who had given her the advice to go on a date with Mako, that she had taught her how to cook noodles? Why did all people think she was the Avatar before she was Korra?

It was just so unfair to let her carry the responsibility for everything that went wrong. She always had to solve problems because she had been born and not because she had chosen too. There was a silent tear running down her check, she batted it away. Worst was that some tiny nagging voice in her head always told her to step up when somebody was treated unjustly, it was the same voice that had stopped her from killing Kuvira. This voice had been guidance to her and that had been the reason she had wanted her back the moment she lost her - but wasn´t that taking the easy way out? The voice was Raava, now was not the first time in the last year she asked herself if it had been wise to rebond with the spirit. She finally had understood that the avatar, that she – was not a wholly human being. Raava could influence her and most likely simply seize control whenever she truly wanted. How else could it be possible that Aang, who grew up in a warring time had not killed anybody, even if he had more than reason to do so. He had seen people die and suffer since he was a child, had lost his family, his tribe and nevertheless he always had been nothing but – saddened when seeing criminals brought to justice. That was what Katara had told her, and it was definitely not human behavior! Humans should get disgusted and angry at such a sight. And this was scaring the shit out of her, it was the reason why she did not want to hear anything about politics again, and also the reason she almost haf plunged a knife into her belly as the press presented her as an otherworldly monster. A monster that without a conscience played with the lives of thousands. And different from the first few times the press did it - this time the press had arguments besides fear of the otherworldy. The new spirit portal was different from the others it felt - less pure and Raava like. And indeed accidents with malevolent spirits had popped up across the the world, the most happening in the United republic. It weren´t many, but they occured and not all of them correlated with humans destroying nature or trying to kill spirits out of hate and fear. Sometimes it were the spirits that preyed on the weak, mostly children playing in forests, or people travelling in misty mornings or moonless nights! That was what went to her so much, Korra could deal with people being against her, but the The worst was that she could not fully contradict these people, she HAD gambled with the people without even knowing it, she just had done what she FELT what was right, or what Raava WANTED her to FEEL. Nobody had told her about the different planes of the spirit world that up till today weren´t explored properly - nobody had told her of the dark realms where things lurked that were even more dangerous than Koh the face stealer! Things that were born by hatred, chaos and pain - things like the horned gods! There were spirits that devoured human souls and granted powers, and hypothetically she could have brought them into the world, had she just felt more rage as she reflected the energy beam. She did not know who was stronger - she or Raava, which was the reason for her doubt nobody wanted to understand. Tenzin, the lotus sages all talked about the Avatar being a force of good, of her worrying needlessly because so many others had led content lives. They told her to go to the earthern kingdoms and help rebuilding. But Korra had listened to the people - the citizen of Repubic city where mumbling about this being the Avatars city, some even calling her empress Korra in mockery. It was understandable, she had had more impact on this city than anybody else in the past years - but she was no Sozin, not Kuvira. She was Korra, a woman who yearned for freedom herself, who would she be to ignore the wish of the people. Would she really be better if she mingled in politics by playing the ultimate trump card that came with being the Avatar - the mediator of the GODS? But on the other had there were many things she COULD do better - which way should she go, no which way did she WANT to go?

Suddenly her head started getting dizzy and she found herself on a wide plain, full of red grass, it looked like drying blood. There Raava was, in her strange kite like form. "Why do you doubt yourself my child? You were meant to be the avatar, since the beginning of times." Her voice rang high, sweet and understanding, Korra felt like crying. "You don´t have to bear this burden alone – I´m with you, as I have been with Aang, with Kyoshi and many others." She explained. "I know you are doubtful of my intentions Korra, but don´t you remember how hollow, how empty you felt while I was gone. My dear child, you need to trust me the same way the people trust you." Raava responded. "So I should trust you less than me myself – oh right that´s not possible because you ARE ME!" Korra yelled at the spirit. Raava just seemed disappointed, her cryptic patterns dulling their blue glow. "That is not true my child – how could I possibly understand the human heart. Two opposites merged as one, that is what Avatars are." Raava responded, suddenly flaring up brightly. The high grass parted burning in a flame unseen by Korras eyes. There stood a man, and behind him stood, a looming, somehow dragon like figure. Raava whipped her tails, energy sparkling before Korra could do anything. The man dodged with an incredible speed, the dragon moved, biting straight into Raavas body. Korra felt like being squashed by an invisible force.

"You indeed are something Korra daughter of Tanroq…the first Avatar to visit the plains of shan gri la – the plains of doubt they are also called by humans." The man spoke with a voice that made Korra shiver, it was hard and brittle, brimming with power that made the plains shake. "Don´t listen to this monster that has slayed thousands of innocents!" Raava pleaded. The dragon stomped and Korra hit the floor. She looked at a crimson sky, black clouds streaming over it. "Who is taking a choice away from her Raava - is it you, or is it me? I give you my word of honor that I Tokugawa Meiji will let you return to the mortal planes unharmed, no matter what you decide to do Korra." He responded. Raava burned brightly, the man gritting his teeth, while his eyes blazed a crimson red. "WHAT are you, I´ve met one of your decendants in the spirit world too, but you are no human any more aren´t you?" Korra asked the warrior. Interestingly enough she did not fear this man more than she would fear an armored thug. The man chuckled, revealing pointy teeth. "I am a Bushin, a man who made a pact with a kami of war – along the lines of the contract that Raava forced on you Korra. Different from this nuisance" he pointed at Raava " men of war do have honor, they don´t make pacts that include rebirth, because it is plainly dishonorable and cruel! I know why I am who I am, Raava denied you that. I – I´ll fight in shan gri la for eternity – I will never be reborn in the mortal realms and instead train and fight in the never ending battle that rages between mankind and its demons." He responded. Raava let out a high, ringing scream of fury.

"And if you want to fight me and my brother Lung there." He pointed at the giant spirit that was hovering behind him. "You will lose, because this is our home …. We all made decisions that were risky, that made people suffer, made them die. But that is the resolve one has to hold if he want´s to achieve peace … different from Raava you do understand Korra, don`t you?" he responded, his voice almost soft and saddened. "Don´t listen, there always is another way Korra, haven´t I shown you so? Have not you shown yourself?" Raava asked with a pained voice. Korra gulped, this man had forced upon himself what she had been born with – why had he? "Why – why did you do THIS to you Lord Tokugawa?" she asked the warrior, whose hands were resting on the hilts of his swords casually. He responded after a short pause. "When I was a child soldiers of Ainori took my father and burned him to death, they raped my mother and executed her after their lust was satiesfied… It was on that day I swore to end the warring states period…I swore that I would become so strong that the world would tremble before me – that I would have my revenge on those beasts. That was the beginning of it all Korra. I nevertheless strayed from my path, and it definitely was for the best I did. I became a butcher, founded a family and not until my home was stormed again I learned that there is no way to avoid hard calls – that sometimes a man must become a demon to stay a man. Doing nothing can be as big a crime than doing the wrong thing – but doing nothing is always your fault! That is why I walked the way of the warrior child." He responded. "Go Korra, on your path – that is all I can say to you." Korra opened her eyes, while bitter tears were streaming down he chin, her chest still hurt like hell. It took a while until she steadied her hitching breath and the pain finally subsided.

"What shall I do….Just shitty advices that´s all the spirits have huh!" she growled…she still was shaken. How had she been able to enter one of the deep realms just in the blink of an eye? And why had no Avatar before her been there? Also there was the question – what would she do if a Bushin tried to bring Chaos and war? She had seen how powerful a DEAD Bushin was, after all. And did this also mean that the self-proclaimed Bushin also were like Meiji Tokugawa? There were many questions that had to be answered, and at the same time she feared the answers. She rose with a determined frown on her face, better wrong than sorry, that was something she could let in on her chest, the more she thought about it the more she liked the idea. Korra looked at the newspaper that Tenzin had been reading before his breakfast. She had not touched a newspaper for almost a year. The words of Meiji Tokugawa were ringing in her ears. "Doing nothing can be as big a mistake as doing the wrong thing…" it might have been true. What would have happened if she had done nothing against Kuvira – how many more people had suffered? What would have happened if she had not fought Vaatu? She did not know and so, she grabbed the newspaper with a trembling hand. The Republic times, it was one of six newspapers Tenzin read every day. Korra opened the newspaper, the headline did make her grasp for air.

 _A MASS MURDERER IN THE METALBENDING CORPS? THE SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT THE REPUBLIC CITY POLICE_

 _As was leaked from reliably sources three leading figures of the pro bending association were murdered three nights ago. Huan Cheung, Lee Zhang und Wang Qui Chen s dead bodies were found in their respectable homes. The gruesome truth is, that these respected citizens were killed through high velocity lead projectiles, which pierced their hearts accurately and with unimaginable force. Furthermore, the murderer titled them as false gods, which may be seen as a direct reference to an equalisitc background of this crime. Nevertheless, the murderer must be a very skilled metalbender. Any public statements from the side of the executive, namely our esteemed Chief of police Lin Bei Fong were declined. This leaves the self-assured citizen wondering. Is Lin Bei Fong covering the culprit? Can our policemen even protect us from this psychotic killer?_

"Those dirty son´s of bitches how dare they!" Korra fumed while the paper lit up between her fingers. "Gods damned pro bending propaganda!" she raged. Without a hesitation the avatar killed the small flames, just the smoke stayed lingering through the room. In the meanwhile, Pema and Ikki had started shouting at each other in bod skat, yes that was the name of the nomad´s language! They both sounded rather furious, and Ikki was definitely sobbing. Korra almost had a bad conscience, Ikki and her siblings had seen a lot of violence and danger in their young lives – it almost was a miracle they coped with it so well – maybe they were more grown up than one would expect…No – it was just proper to tell your parents about your boyfriend, she had done so herself, and even if her father had not been particularly happy about her dating a flame spouting city boy he knew what was going on. That much respect you simply had to muster for your parents! Writing a letter to their parents, that was also something she had to do in the course of the week, Korra noticed. She wondered how many more years it would take to expand the telephone network outside of the united republic and the great cities of Ba Sing Se, Miyako, and of course Nunavut in the north. Still it was a pain, because you still had to send letters. Korra continued reading.

 _Also no political organization has claimed to be involved in these strange Lead bit murders, it is rumored that Inspektor Chouw Mako has taken the explosive cases in his own hands. Nevertheless, the hero of Kuvira´s Invasion has declared, that he does not know anything about Huan Cheung dying. Is he pressured by his supervisors or the government themselves? While the families of the murdered are mourning their tragic losses, the pro bending association has announced to spent all their resources on bringing the murderer to justice. We can just hope that these killings are just due to a personal vendetta and do not follow a greater political aim. Tonight Shirou Shinobi will also have a special, live streamed, interview with leading professionals in the line of crime investigation. Amongst them the well-known Saikhan Taharo, who now clads the post as head of Bei Fong Metalbending academy and the Republic City´s crime scene investigation squad. Furthermore, the pro bending association has set a public vigil at Republic citys council-square. About 2000 people are awaited in the course of the event, which as the shortly elected Leader of the pro bending association Han Ji Hung states, are held with the pacifist ideals of the here founders of Republic City. Since there is no more to report about this topic, we conclude with a well meant advice for the nonbending citizen of republic city. Do not take a position in affairs you cannot handle, stay home and stay safe!_

Avatar Korra bashed down the Newspaper and headed outside. Rage was simmering in her belly. It were people like these that proved Amon RIGHT, something she absolutely did not like. She had to call Mako and ask him about this. She had ignored him for far too long, not responded to his calls, she didn´t even invite him. It was not as if he had not tried, they did hang out a few times after he had been released from the hospital. It almost felt like the old times, just that Mako somehow was different. He was not this passion glowing firebender with dark secrets any more. He seemed to have grown a lot in that time he spent in bed. He was calmer, actually Korra liked to apply the world gentler. There was tension between them, which per se had nothing to say because this kind of tension also was between her father and Kya, the best friend of her mother – who was happily married herself. Tanroq and Kya had flirted all the time, even with Kyas husband and her mother in the same room. But there would never happen anything between them, for these two it was just a way to show friendship and admiration Korra guessed.

She was feeling rather insecure about meeting Mako, a womanizer like him simply had to move on and have a girlfriend after being dumped for – more than three years? And what would he think about her simply calling him out of the blue! That she wanted him back, or worse - that she saw him as a mere tool to please her incomprehensible moods? She had not even called him when they were a couple! Aren´t you making too much fuss about a simple call Korra? But she hated using the phone! She asked herself and just resumed her musings about her former boyfriend. He was just behaving decent if he hid a girlfriend and did not rub her in Korras face, most likely because he thought she could not deal with it. Mako always thought she was a weak girl, which sometimes was sweet, but more often made her furious. Keeping things from people to not hurt them, and hurting them because of this was exactly old Mako´s style. If the new Mako was different she had to find out, if there was a new Mako at all. So she walked in the direction of the men´s dormitory, where Councilman Tenzin also had his private office. That somebody, who had an official office also needed a private office was rather strange, though. But since her strict and serious teacher did everything methodic and organized, for him it was just fitting to have an office at home. "Hey Jun, Lobsang what´s up?" she greeted two of the airbending acolytes.

The two were cleaning the floor diligently. "We´re cleaning the master´s rooms – it´s a great honor." The young man responded. The guy was following Tenzin around like a lost puppy and if Korra was not totally wrong this could even annoy the serene Tenzin! "Ok..umm I´m just strolling around and you Jun?" as far as Korra knew she had NEVER seen a woman clean the floor at airtemple island, also she had never seen a man in the kitchens. Out in the world things were different but here tradition ruled above all. "Well- ummm… I lost a bet against senior-Meelo... but who would think he actually would enter the spirit forest" She admitted silently and clasped her mouth in horror. Korra had to laugh at that – the spirits weren´t as dangerous as people told and even if some people got lost in the vines around the spirit portal the most of them had been found again. If you waltzed in there on Moonless nights or misty mornings – well Korra guessed that could be much more dangerous. "Could you be so kind and not report this break of tradition to sifu Tenzin?" the young woman pleaded. " I´m not that cold hearted, even if it were my duty to report it to the master." Lobsang replied sighing. Korra shook her growing hair - she wanted her old herstyle back mostly because Asami stated it gave her a feral aura that made guys swoon. "I will not tell Tenzin, geez I´m not his substitute teacher or something. By the way are there any letters for me that don´t contain salutations like Avatar whore?" Korra asked nonchalant, hate letters weren´t something she wasted her time on anymore. "N-No..You really shouldn´t talk about yourself like that Avatar Korra. These vile people don´t know what you did for us!" Jun responded angered from the bottom of her heart. It felt good to hear that somebody besides herself thought she had done good, especially today. Korra cursed herself for having tears burning in her eyes, she would not start sniffling like in Bolin´s last Noatak mover, no way in HELL. "Thank you Jun. So do I have letters?" she asked again. "Um…actually you have. There is one from Master Jinora and Master Kai." She responded. Master Kai? Since when did that brat get tattoos, had she really spaced out THAT much?

"Erm- Master Kai – like airbending master?" Korra shot back. Lobsang let out a soft chuckle. "I wouldn´t set him on par with Master Jinora or Master Tenzin – but Master Jinora gave him the tattoos. It is not so much a sign of respect but a necessity." Lobsang obviously loathed Kai and his – unnomadly – behavior. Korra rose her eyebrows, it was interesting how many secrets Tenzins family held from her, most likely she would have a snidely talk with her mentor. If problems arose they were in it together – it was Tenzin who bombarded her with that phrase until it became second nature. Why in all heavens didn´t he tell her, did he thing it would be to much for her to handle? Just because she had thought about sucide once, after drinking way too much plumwine for the first time in her life? How should she have known that alcohol had such drastic effects on her and sort of kicked this whole what if avalanche loose? That a drink was the trigger that pulled out all her carefully crafted stops! "An why would that be?" Korra asked distracted. "The air nation needs leaders – or rather, we need a hierarchy like every state or organization. And since Kai is clearly in the favor of both, Masters Tenzin and Jinora, he got the arrows. It´s sad that the sacred rites of our ancestors are disgraced to profane tools of power…"

Jun snapped "Lobsang, please don´t ramble about politics and use your mop to clean the floor." The man grumbled. "Yes Senior-Jun." Korra smiled and walked away, leaving the acolytes to their tasks. It seemed that the air nomads became a rather tight assed bunch– calling older disciples senior, Korra had to shake her head at that. She arrived at Tenzins office, like every in building door on air temple island it had no lock. Korra looked if somebody was in sight and as she confirmed the opposite she slipped into the office. It was like she had stepped into a world of orderly neatness. The brushes and Ink bottles were neatly lined up, according to size, the same was going for pencils and blank paper. There were high shelves that were laden with well sorted folders, books and things that were gifted to him by his children. There was even a painting that depicted Tenzin bending amongst a blossoming cherry tree. It was a beautiful painting, which Meelo had gifted his father to his last birthday. That kid was as crazy talented as his uncle Bumi. On the desk stood one of the three phones that were installed in the Councilman's house, it was a bit decadent if you remembered that a phone costed about 700 yuan, which was equal to one year of rent for a small house. Korra picked up and tried to remember the number of the police station.

It beeped twice and then the soft voice of a woman asked "Republic Central phone office – what can I do for you?" Korra cleared her throat. "Avatar Korra here, hand me the police station." She responded. "Excuse me Lady Avatar, do you want to speak with Chief Bei Fong, the headquarters in general, the forensics, the harbor station one and two, Kantu Hills station, dragon flat station, the spirit matters division, the police academy, the individualized, or the organized crime division?" The woman asked politely. Korra wondered that the police force had so many phones, because the people in republic mostly could not afford the horrendous fees for running a phone connection. "Erm..hand me the main quarters." Korra responded. "As you wish Lady avatar." Then she was connected to another line. At once an officer rose the earpiece. "Sergeant Torihada, Repubic city main quarters." He stated with a booming voice. Korras ear was ringing, she leveled the earpiece until it was half a span away from her ear. "Avatar Korra, I want to speak with Inspektor Chouw." She stated her business. The man paused. "Ok, I don´t know if I am able to help you because Ispektor Chouw is in the individualized crime division. I´ll just redirect you." He stated and did as he told.

"Thank you." the words were a second too late for the man. It took some time as a rasp baritone grumbled into Korras ears. "Spirits damn it Souji, the third time I´m not free this evening and I don´t want to play sink the fire navy!" "Hello I´m Avatar Korra." Korra spoke, she disliked calling people, it was really awkward since you did not even see whom you were talking with! "What an honor Lady Avatar, how can I be of service?" the man responded undoubtedly embarrassed. "I want to speak with Inspektor Chouw." She stated her wish. "Please stay in line, I´ll look if he presently is at his desk." the officer reassured her, Korra waited and waited. She started getting nervous, because Councilman Tenzin had no regular plan for spending his day. She really did not want to explain him, why she was in his office and used his phone. Suddenly somebody heavily breathed into the microphone. "H-Hello, Korra?" the voice sounded strange. It was definitely not Makos voice, but that was all due to the beautiful technology that Asami cherished so much. "That´s me, yes…erm" Korra was searching for words. "Are you in trouble – do you need help? Is the press stalking you again? Where are you?" Mako´s worried voice thundered through the earpiece. "No- No I´m fine it´s just that I noticed I´ve been…well you might think I´m ignoring you Mako and I´m sorry for that. Also I want to hear the truth about these Lead Bit Murders. Have you read the Republic times article – shameful bender superiority propaganda!" she snarled furious.

Mako was silent. "I´d be happy to drop by, or do you want to meet at a restaurant?" She could almost hear him blush in embarrassment. No, she had not avoided leaving air temple island for half a year, of course she would LOVE to dine in a restaurant where she was disturbed twice a minute. "Nah – just drop by, but you could bring some dumplings if you want." She responded trying to save him from embarrassing himself further, it had been almost a month since she lastly had tasted meat. Korra really would love some meaty, steaming dumplings. " I´m not taking the comfortable rout out Korra, the restaurant comment was rude and insensitive – I did not mean to.." Mako started. "Geez cut the bullshit City boy, just move your ass over here." She responded determined, even though she felt happy about him speaking openly. "As you wish Lady Avatar." He snickered "So dumplings, extra spicy with hippo cow beef." He stated. "Exactly, that´s my favourite." Korra responded surprised. "Well, it´s my job to remember things, Korra and I know nobody who could eat more of these dumplings than you. I just say 400 dumpling day." He responded. Korra chuckled at the memory. She and Mako really had destroyed 400 dumplings, while listening to the rise of the emperor on the radio "But Mako – don´t make it 400, please." She responded. "Yes, then I guess we´ve got an appointment in…screw it, we´ve got an appointment now." He responded excitedly, Korra was sure she heard a roaring voice "Go for it Chow, that girl´s hotness from two worlds pal. And I want DETAILS tomorrow!" Mako groaned putting down the earpiece nevertheless Korra heared his angered response. "You´re even more embarrassing then my brother Captain!" Korra felt happy, obviously Mako wasn´t the lone grim cop anymore, it seemed he finally had found colleagues he could trust. Somehow she had to admit that she felt as if she was staying behind her friends. Bolin had married, Mako was moving up the career ladder, even Kai was an airbending master…she wondered what the future had in stash for herself.

Authors note: And with that Korra is in the boat...and the Makorra fans a prepairing tissues for the chapters to come - don´t be happy too early my friends hehe. And how about REVIEWS and REVIEWS? Sorry but I felt like adding something, to make the situation clearer XD.


	7. A man named Hungshu Ping

**Chapter 7: A man named Hungshu Ping**

It had been a pain in the ass to get this damned noodle cart into the garage, mostly because my landlord didn´t deem it necessary to get his old crates out of there. Of course I simply had thrown them into the street, which lead to steetkids having rummaging through the crates content at once. My landlord, who was named Toru the thin had been furious about this but a short look into his eyes had silenced him for good. The guy was a coward and, what was more important – he depended upon my money because more than half his house was not rented out. Getting the raw materials for my business hadn´t been a big challenge at all, mostly because I was not that far away from the harbor district – and hence the industrial market. For the first few weeks I nevertheless had to limit myself to cooking dumplings and making pastes. I would not use bought soy sauce or, spice oils and making them simply took its time. Sokka had been away for almost a week, it was a strange feeling to not have her around when I returned from work.

Even though I had not regained the speed I held in my prime I had already cashed in my fixed costs. For practice I was not setting the cart up near the headquarters, I knew pretty well how small the patience of hungry cops was. But today I guessed I would risk it, you had to start sometimes and today was a good day, because my competitors most likely would ball up in front of the probending arena – there were some rather important matches set as far as I knew. So I swung myself on the bicycle that powered my cart and started driving into the center of town. I already had prepared an advertising board that promised thirty percent off for cops. Actually I had calculated my prices slightly higher than the average noodle cart, but nevertheless the cops would save around two shim´s per meal. I was wondering if any of my old colleagues were still serving in the force, which I highly doubted. Cops were paid rather well, furthermore almost nobody got through the physical tests after hitting the gods damned half century mark. These examinations were held about every five years, actually there was no way around it until you made it to Inspector, which mostly went along with getting a comfy desk-job.

Exceptions of course were the individual and organized crime division, where almost everyone was an Inspector. It was early in the morning; the sun just had started setting as I made my way through the bumpy streets of the commercial district. Some other street kitchen owners were also preparing for the day, and the bakers were finishing their work, smoking pipes in front of their shops. Otherwise the streets were dead, not even the shift workers of future industries rushing towards the factories close to the harbor districts. Finally, I arrived in front of the police headquarters, which still had the same brown brick facades I knew. At the moment just a lone officer was seen outside, smoking a cigarillo. These small brown sticks were quite fashionable, an invention of the united forces. These things were better for shipping around than packages of loose tobacco. I halted my cart close to a colleague, the guy was brewing teas. "Mornin pal – what´s up?" I greeted. The man, who was most likely in his early twenties looked at me with squinted eyes. "You´re new to the business huh?" he responded warily eyeing my set-up. He smiled as he found out I wasn´t selling any drinks. "New in republic but not new to the business." I replied smiling and went over to his cart. "Lee´s the name." I introduced myself with a short bow. The man chuckled.

" Lao Shin, you´re a Countrybumpkin – eh? Just between the two of us bud, just old geezers do the bowing crap nowadays!" he muttered with a low voice and slapped my shoulder. I grinned. "If you say so man." I responded humored. "So, who´s in the noodle business around here`?" I asked the young man. "You mean flameo instant? There always is a wagon around here, just today they need everything they have for the probending arena – shitty corps always ruining our businesses." He grumbled. "Eh man, as if I would do instant noodles – a man has his pride!" I responded disgusted, flameo noodles as disgusting as noodles can get! The guy chuckled. "I know that – these fuckers and their tea-bags are totally ruining the business!" he muttered, adding some curses I couldn´t understand. "Then, let´s start business." I responded and started firing up the coal oven installed in my cart. I placed the already prepared dough and a small selection of meat dominated fillings on top of my cart, I also added the steamer for steaming buns and dumplings. I definitely would make buns around noon – cops destroyed these things along with olong. "The guys here still like meaty food?" I asked Lao, who was preparing the olong extract. "Off course man, who doesn´t?" he responded laughing. "You´re also from Ba Sing Se, cause your accent really sounds familiar." He questioned me. The kid seemed to have good ears.

"Yes, even if it´s quite some time since I was there." I answered truthfully. It took some time until the steamer was hot enough for work. "Mornin officer – feel the need for some dumplings?" I asked the officer who still was standing in front of the main entrance. "Eh – sounds not that bad." The man responded. "What cha got?" he responded while walking down the stairs, he looked really tired, bags under the eyes and all. He was a young man, maybe as old as Lao. "I´ve got beef, beef extra spicy, chickenpick, some pastes, chili – leechy nut for example." I blabbered onto the young man. "Just give me something to fill man stomach man." He grumbled blinking, his eyes were a dark amber. "Coming, since you´re the first customer today the tea´s going on me officer – oops Inspector." I stated wondering. This guy was an inspector at his age, as the small golden Kite on his shoulder pieces stated. "Quite well informed for a civilian Mr." he responded while Lao graciously prepared an olong tea. I quickly rolled gut the dough squares, spooned the fillings in and rolled the dumplings, a bit of rice starch and down into the hot steamer." The cop was drinking the almost boiling olong – he simply had to be a firebender, otherwise the man would be screaming in pain.

"Yes, actually I wore that badge during the Yakone campaign – well I never made it upwards from officer." I responded smiling. The big and bulky young man stared at me in disbelief. Surely he could not imagine that a small guy like me could run around in a bulky metal armor. "You´re a bender?" he asked while I handed him the dumplings in a paper bag. "Not a firebender like you Inspector – is this going to be an interrogation?" I responded with a humored frown. "Actually I wonder what you´re doing here after an all nighter." I stated calmly. "I´m looking that destroyed?" he responded. "Definitely." I chuckled. "That´s nine shim three copper." I responded. The young man dragged out his purse and counted the money in my palm. I sorted it into the iron box. I noticed a snakelike, angry, red scar on his right hand. "Actually it´s two all nighters, but I´ve got some really hard nuts to crack – it´s just too much info I gathered to make sense of it." He sighed. "But the Chief is not willing to assign somebody to a taskforce – too much smuggling activities this time of the year." He responded grumbling.

Actually my fingers were itching to dig myself into this case, as a consultant it should be possible. But Again I did not even know the Ispector, so why should he trust some random noodle guy with his cases? "Who´s the Chief currently?" I asked interested. The young man eyed me incredulously and even Lao let out a yelp. "The fuck man – where the hell were you living!" Lao cried shocked. "In Lau An." I dryly responded. "Ah, the village with the big iron mines in progress." The cop responded. "Exactly." I stated snorting. Why the hell did this guy know where Lau An was, the little thing was not THAT famous. "Fuckwads really dragged me over the table – but hey, never fuck with triads." I responded. "What?" the officer seemed quiet astonished about this fact. "Triads? I thought that´s a wing project of Asami´s." he responded furrowing his brown. "Damn – I´ve really dug into work too much. Overworked idiot I was – should have been there months ago." He sighed. "Yeah, why would she need somebody at her back Mako… Just her dad was killed, her company almost destroyed and she got all this shit about sodomy processes." He muttered in Nihongo, definitely worked up. It was VERY bad Nihongo.

"You´re talking about Asami Sato pal? You know this woman?" I responded. "Yes, I – well just say I´ve got some relationships to fix. You really don´t know who I am do you?" he asked. I nodded, I had no idea who this guy was. "What – that´s Chouw Mako pal – the hero of our police force if you want to brag." Lao cried. "Former probending Champion, Ex boyfriend of the freaking Avatar – the guy who brought down the gods damned platinum Monster from Kuvira´s imperial army." He yelled, his voice almost toppling. Inspector Chouw was flushing. "No need for the praise Lao – this job is what I´m good at." He smiled a wry smile. In nodded impressed, quite the feats this young man had achieved – definitely more than I had in his age. But life wasn´t about feats and honors, right? "And so you´re the guy investigating the Lead Bit cases." I responded. "Yes – I still don´t know who leaked it to the republic times yesterday but I have suspicions." His face became stern, fury glowing in his eyes. I had the feeling I didn´t want to see a mad Inspector Chouw. I wondered if this guy also did the job to protect, I took a gulp of water.

"You don´t seem impressed at all Mr. you´re used to high society?" Mako responded. I smirked "You can shit on that kid – but won´t anybody answer my question who of the old guard of pre Yakone times is still on the bat?" I questioned. The Inspector chuckled "Right – I can just take guesses about that. There might be Captain Hungshu." I blinked startled and just blurted "THE FUCK – this goof made it to CAPTAIN? Ping fucking Hungshu?" I actually thought that Ping would never leave the officer badge because of his drinking habits and the hilarious behavior he loved to display in public. "Yes – you know him?" he asked. "Aye – was his partner, we started in the force together." I responded. "You´re as old as the Captian?" he asked frowning. "Actually I guess I am older than Ping." I bickered. "He still is a rather strange man – but he is a good Captain." Inspector Chouw responded. I nodded, there was some kind of admiration in the young man's voice. "He´s something -in his strange ways – never met a man that had my back more." I smirked "Actually I am afraid he destroys my noodle cart when he finds out I´m back in town." I stated feeling a twinge of uneasiness.

"What´s about Izumi Hakawa?" I asked Inspector Chouw. "Left the police force years ago – won the golden fan and, just disappeared after marrying her trainer." He responded. I smiled at that, it seemed Izumi had been lucky – she really had deserved a good husband. "Also there are professor Saikhan and Chief Bei Fong." I dropped my face at that. Lin was still working in the policeforce? Why on earth? Didn´t she have to do enough to help her husband expand the air nation – or something along the lines? "Everything ok Mr.?" the Inspector asked while Lao was serving tea for two other cops. "Eh Chouw – get us some dumplings, we´re starving, flameo cart isn´t here today." They yelled in an almost pleading tone. "Al right gents." The inspector responded adding in a bickering voice. "These lazy asses can´t even pay their own food – well just don´t play corners against the Cap. Everybody should KNOW that he always wins!" He mumbled annoyed. "Two times beef extra spicy with – bamaly sap." He sighed and again handed me the money. While I was busy preparing the orders. "Yes – perfectly fine. But actually Lin Bei Fong started her career after the Yakone incident - one year later actually." I responded. "That prick Saikhan teaching in the academy – really can imagine that." I responded, I still disliked the guy, even after roughly thirty years.

"How does she even manage that along with a family? Or has Chief become a title without any real meaning." I trailed off. This time it was Ispector Chouw who stood there wide-eyed. "Erm…family? Man in what world are you living, if there is somebody who´s job incarnate - it´s Lin Bei Fong. That woman works even more than ME!" he blurted. No family? The cogs ticked into place. This little fucker named Tenzin! Oh- I would totally rustle his jimmies, to dump the woman that would do anything for him…even going so far as taking airbending lessons and dressing herself in orange - ORANGE! I muttered some rather unpleasant things under my breath. "You seem disturbed Mr. – you know Chief Bei Fong?" he asked wondering. "Yes, I do." I sighed. "Second biggest blockhead I got to know." I responded shaking my head. Why did she do this to herself? She never was enthusiastic about the job in the policeforce, for heaven's sake, she graduated last in her class. And her mother sure as hell would be proud if her daughter finally did what SHE wanted, but telling Lin that was as successful as lecturing a brickwall about philosophy.

And why the hell was she still single - little Linny had been a shiner, despite the scars in her face. Was she STILL whimpering after my little brother? The more I thought about this, the more my fury turned cold, actually I was smiling serene. I simply would challenge Master Tenzin to a duel, by the ninety nine hells, I would weep the floor with his sorry ass! Nobody hurt lil Linny that bad without getting problems with me. Being the big brother she would have needed twenty years ago – that was my job now. "The dumplings are done Inspector Chouw. Thank you very much. To your health officers." I waved at the other guys. "So long, I guess I´ll return tomorrow." Inspector Chouw responded and headed off to his colleagues. Since there was shift change a lot of customers arrived and I had my hands full, the guys obviously liked my dumplings. It was interesting to see how many women wore the badge today. It was almost a quarter of the force, and most of them definitely worked on the bat, not on the pen.

Some other carts had arrived, selling kebaps, fried dove feet and other street food. One guy actually sold bento boxes! It was early evening as I spotted a grizzled figure in a scratched iron armor. It was still pings broad, plain face. He wore the same silly mustache, just that it had turned gray over the years. Also he still was a notorious flirt it seemed. The guy was bantering playfully with a young colleague that could have been his daughter. Nothing disturbed me more than the fact that this girl actually looked at him with a seductive smile! Heavens just imagining old Ping and that young woman going at it – OOOGIEEE! I had to protect my precious noodle cart – so I just handed out the dumplings asked Lao to keep an eye on my earnings and marched towards ping. " Yo, Mr. Hungshu, still chasing skirts at that age?" I snarked, while as smile settled on my face, I actually was happy to meet Ping again. Ping stiffened up as he heard my voice. The young woman turned into my direction. "And who are you?" she asked with a crooked eyebrow, she seemed slightly annoyed. Ping turned his head. "Who…." His eyes went wide as he fixed me. There was a short silence, I actually was feeling a lump in my throat. What should you say to your best pal after you hid yourself for twenty years?

"Lee – Is…You friggin asshole! Leaving without a goodbye party – for twenny frggin years." he blurted with a rough voice and hurled himself at me. I was squeezed into cold metal so hard I could not even breath. "GHAAA." I let out a muffled cry as Ping started cursing me in his hometown dialect, while obviously sniffling like the little boy he was at heart. He then started to wrangle my hair between his ironclad hands, I started weeping – because it hurt like HELL- I told myself! "You lil fucker will joing me´n the boys for a good ol sake evening ya lil shit! Tiger´s Den an all-out - you shitty runaway!" Ping rambled somewhere between being annoyed and happy. He finally let me go, I just clasped my had. "You motherfucking fucktard Pin, my whole body is squashed. Gods damn it I´ve got a noodle cart to run!" I rambled and walked off to the cart again, while Ping just seemed to see the slight trails tears had left, he again went at it. "Oh my brother in arms- I see you manly tears. That means so much to me Lee – I-Ill forgvee." And there he went sobbing again. I just shook my head – and such a guy was Captain! Nevertheless, the young woman was patting his back, that vile old geezer!

I went back to business, or I tried to because there were no customers. Interesting was that also a lot of older people attended my cart and told it was great that I was supporting the police force. I actually had to hide a greedy smile at their comments. I was about to close my stall in the evening, the ingredients for dumplings were all used up, the only things remaining were some scraps of salted fish paste, Spring onions and steamed buns with sugared ginger. The ginger buns were selling bad, I guessed I would take them out of the menu soon. Pin actually did show up after his shift had ended. He a a plaster on his swollen nose. "So you got yourself into a barfight or what?" I greeted him. "Bar fight- pah – I was fulfilling my heroic duty to bring justice, Lee. I was fighting off three terra triad enforcers. Bam bam, spike, dodge." Ping was engulfed in the moment, moving around as if he was fighting his opponents again. The young officer from noon still was hanging out with Ping, she giggled. "Ping you´re acting hilarious." I stated dryly. "Aww come on, you´re still the same old spoilsport aren´t cha… Mr. tigh ass Copper." He griped. "I´m no copper any more Ping, but yes I still am tight assed. Ingwer Bun?" I asked offering him the leftovers of my day. "Well, you could offer ME a steamed bun, too." Lao complained, while stepping from one feet onto the other. He obviously was waiting for someone. "Help yourself man." I responded flatly and handed him the basket with the buns. Ping already had devoured the bun.

"Taschtesch gweat." He mumbled reaching out for another one. I chuckled. His pseudo-girlfriend, or whatever she was also effectively nibbled through a bun. I started eating my own cooking as Ping dipped the bun into fish paste – I was mortified. This was nothing short of food violation! "Ping, what are you doing?" the young woman asked smiling. "That ma sweety is the secret of my ever lasting youth!" he stated triumphantly. I just let out a gargling sound that led to everybody laughing at Ping. "Eh man, Yumi would totally love this – and you would even kiss her after eating it! So what´s the deal?" Ping rambled at me. I smiled sadly, fools and children always speak the truth, right? "I would Ping…heavens I would." I responded, of course I could not fool my old partner. "Eh what´s up with her? She dumped you or what Lee?" he asked concerned. "Sort of – well…" I cleared my throat. What should I hop around the steaming cat for? "I´m a widower for thirteen years now." I responded shrugging. "W-What! But she´s been in her prime man. Always healthy n hot like a fireflake!" Ping exclaimed disbelieving. He never had come close to Yumi, but he had accepted that he had to endure her if he wanted to spend buddy time with me. "Until we got Sokka – afterwards she just was a shadow of her former self man." I stated starting to get melancholic. Damn, get a grip on yourself Bei Gao, I scolded myself. "My condolences Mr. Lee." His younger colleague responded, firmly shaking my hand. She also stared intently a Ping. "Ugh…eh yeah. Im really sorry Man." He trailed off.

"Y know I´ve no idea how that must hurt cause – never married n such stuff." He babbled hastily. Ping was working himself up into a fit, I guessed. "But you´ve got a kid eh – damn I´m really jealous. Your son´s popular with the ladies?" he asked smirking. "Actually I hope my DAUGHTER is not too popular with the ladies – you know grandkids n such." I responded dryly. Lao spit out his tea. "You named you daughter Sokka Lee – the fuck are you crazy!" he rambled. "The kid´s branded for life! Everyone knows that´s a man´s name!" he added griping. "NOPE!" I exclaimed loudly "In Inuktikut Sokka is genderless my friends, because the only names that are bound to genders are Tanroq or Unalaq. The q is the ending for "he" while "ya" is the ending for "her"." I responded with a risen index finder. "Holy fuck Lee – you´re speaking this wet´s chitchat?" Ping was plainly disturbed. "Sorts of – different from you I screwed my job for a woman and traveled the world – so I learned things that might come in handy." I stated. Interestingly that was the first time I told anyone why I did not return to my old job. I had noticed soon that Yumi and I were drifting apart- mostly because I spent much more time with my colleagues than with her.

And Adachi Yumi was a girl that wanted her attention, she simply could not deal with being alone, she told me in the streets of Miyako that the reason for our almost breakup hadn´t been solely based on the fact that I kept a secret from her, she also had felt as if she was of no importance to me anymore. And that had been the reason why we traveled the world for two years and started working alongside. "Hey Lao, you´re ready man?" a deep voice growled in our direction. "Ah Nanook man – there you are. Why the hell you´re so late bud?" he asked the bulky man. "N evening guys." He replied. "Had to escort a Lady back home – stupid chick drunk herself silly." The man rumbled. "Awww how sweet." Lao chuckled, the way he looked at Nanook definitely was not just friendly. I actually felt a bit queasy. "So come on shorty – let´s get the hell home." The big guy grinned. "Yeah Lee, so I´m off with my pal." He cleared his throat and waved. The two men wandered away Nanook laying one heavy hand on the tea makers shoulder, he let go shortly afterwards. I guess it had be hard to keep your whole relationship hidden because you had too. I rubbed my nose. "Erm so, what is you name even?" I asked Pings acquaintance.

" Call me Horishima." She responded. I nodded to that. "Aww Hori, so formal – I get we´ve got to hit a bar to loosen you up." Ping chuckled devious. The young woman waved her finger. "No, no Ping, you go and catch up with your friend. I haven´t the luxury to work when I want, I´m not a Captain yet. See you tomorrow." She winked towards him and disappeared gracefully. I chuckled and shook my head. "What? She´s one hell of a girl right? Always so elegant and classy." Ping sighed dreamily. I chuckled at that, so the masculine bastion called Hungshu Ping had finally fallen? I somehow doubted that. "So come on Lee – let´s get a drink." He stated, while I was packing up my cart. "I suppose I´ll deliver a disappointing performance Ping." I responded chuckling. I doubted I would be able to handle more than a small pot of hot sake. "Eh- why that buddy, you could pack quite the drink for being such a lightweight!" he exclaimed walking next to me. "I didn´t drink a sip since Yumi died Ping." I stated calmly. "Didn´t want to risk ending on the bottle – I had a little kid to raise man." I responded. Ping was silent, after a while he answered. "Y know Lee – if I had somebody relying on me for real - I guess I´d skip the drinking n partying." He sounded saddened. "Getting all touchy feely Hungshu?" I quipped. "Bastard." He grumbled.

The silence between us was comfortable, Ping was making it really easy for me, but otherwise – he never had been a guy who "needed" a friends support. Ping was more the kind of guy that supported others, just like me. "So, how old´s this kid of yours?" he asked. "Too young for you Ping!" I snapped back. He chuckled "Yes, father mooselion." Even I had to laugh at that. "She´s nineteen. I guess you´d recognize her as my daughter at once." I stated proudly. "Geez…another spitfire. The gals of today always think they´ve got to be manlier than men, I don´t get that Lee. A real women doesn´t need to huff her chest, she stares guys down with this." He stated snipping his fingers. "What´s so bad about being a wifey, I mean most men aren´t bastards who beat their women and treat them like slaves. Raising kid´s also is an important job." He shook his head. "Ping – have you downed some rootbeers already?" I asked him, while we were nearing the iron lily. He snorted. "Not even I am drinking on the job – Lee. Tsk I´m a Captain now!" he responded. I chuckled at that. As we finally entered the cozy bar it was almost empty. "Evening Ma." Ping announced his presence. The old woman, who was snoring in an armchair located in the corner of the bar jerked awake.

"Hungshu you dork – stop scaring an old woman witless." She rambled and rose from the chair groaning. "And who´s that guy, doesn´t even wear a badge." She responded in my direction. "That´s Lee the infamous." He smirked. Lee the infamous, what kind of silly nickname was that. "THAT Lee?" she asked raising an eyebrow. "I guess." I sighed my head hanging. "Good boys, since it´s late I´ll leave the bar to you." She responded and simply left the room in the slow pace of an old woman. "What´s wrong with that woman, isn´t that her bar?" I asked disturbed. "That's Mama Wu for you shorty. The iron lily is our living room – if some fuckers harassed Ma half the metalbender corps would be on that guy's sorry ass." Ping stated grinning. "And the whole of individual crime, meaning my boys n girls." He stated smirking. Ping went behind the bar and poured us two mugs of rootbeer, his mugs was twice the size of mine. "Horis Cherry blossom. I guess you´ll like it." He responded. I took a swig, indeed the beer was rather sweet, bitterness of a usual ale paired with a whiff of cherrys.

It was a rather good beer. "Yeah." I responded. It was strange to drink beer again. "To you Ping Hungshu." I responded sminking. "Go fuck yourself Lee." Her responded, while the mugs clanked. We spent the rest of the evening talking about old times, I just returned home when the morning dawn started to light up republic city. Nevertheless, I just slept a few hours and was up at midday. I had fillings and dough to prepare, even though I was rather tired. Who´s able to drink also is able to work, after all!

Authors note: And that was the first reunion. I simply love Ping but actually now we have Lee interested in the lead bit cases, which is the most important point of the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.


	8. A woman s limits

**Chapter 8: A woman´s limits**

Asami Sato was so frustrated it kept all her willpower not to scream in fury and smash down her secretary. No, she had a duty to fulfill, she had sins to atone for – her fathers, which also were her´s almost as much! Why hadn´t she seen the way Hiroshi Sato was jovial and jolly towards her, kept all his grief to himself. As a daughter she should have noticed it – she should have been there for him, but she of course had had better things to do, like dancing or self-defense classes! What kind of vile egomaniac she was – she hadn´t deserved one of her friends! But why, why had it always to be her that was beaten down by fate? Why was it always her who lost – her father, her company and lastly she slowly was losing her mind. She found herself unable to understand simple contracts, her head fuzzy and her sight blurred – contracts she would have laughed about as a fourteen-year-old. She could not even uphold the legacy of her father, for a moment a shudder ran through the body of the young woman, she felt as if she would explode with all these bottled up feelings. But she deserved this, no she deserved far worse! She just was a weak, pathetic girl – she always had been. Why couldn´t she just die right now? The world wouldn´t be poorer and she would finally have found her peace, her rest.

Maybe she still would feel the cold nunbness she had felt before, if she hadn´t accompanied Korra into the spirit world. She had to feel thankful for having a friend like Korra, who would bother with her whimpering after suffering so much herself. To be chained onto a wheelchair for good, that was something far worse than losing one´s father – right? People lost fathers everywhere, nevertheless – to know that Hiroshi had still loved her, even in his darkest hours was what made it so hard to let him go. But why – why had he to hurt so much people, not even stopped in front of her? So many questions that tortured her mind. "Miss Sato? Hello – shall I cancel the appointment with Colonel Chun?" her secretary almost yelled into her ear! Not again, have to focus, focus is key! Asami Sato yelled at herself. "No – no of course not." She responded, her voice the incarnation of professionalism. "Are you sure?" her secretary asked, the young woman seemed almost – worried. "Yes, this is an order Rin Hua." Asami almost snarled and the secretary hurried out of the businesswoman's sight. As the door closed the mask of Asami Sato shattered. Her lip trembled and tears welled in her eyes, she felt cold and lonely – she just wanted her father back, to say her she did everything right. She wanted to hear Korras voice again, saying that it was ok to let go, that she was no nuisance but her very best friend. Tears of fury slid over her cheeks, why could she not rule her own mind, why could she not FOCUS – damn the heavens! She bit down on her fist as she muffled her cries. But the more she yelled in her pain – the worse it got. Blood was dripping from her knuckles, nevertheless she smashed a Vase that held a couple of dragonlilys. While her other hand also started bleeding the Vase landed on the thick carpets of her office.

She couldn´t even destroy a fucking vase. Asami just punched her bookshelf, again and again. Suddenly there was a startled voice. "Is this a new sort of workout?" the man that entered the room smiled a superior smile. He was tall, well built and had a nicely cut face. His eyes resembled two piercing pieces of jade. Asami felt overwhelmed from his presence. He looked so strong, so self-assured, and he definitely was looking down on her. He had noticed at once how weak she was. Despite this she walked over, the well-practiced smile covering her lips. It didn´t reach her eyes though. "I´ve always combined sports with pragmatic application, I definitely need some new furniture – don´t you think?" who was this man, what was his name? Asami Sato was frantic, but her face held through sheer willpower. "Yes Miss Sato, I fully agree future industries needs some new furniture." He responded, smiling while he gripped her hand without caring about the blood. His muscular forearm bulged as he squeezed her hand, which felt as if she was breaking every moment. "Colonel Chun – Mylady." He responded looking down on Asami. She feared that man, he somehow felt dangerous, even his well combed hair! "Well, since when is the earthern army interested in doing business with future industries?" Asami sato responded, while fought the impulse to hold onto her tortured hand. "I never showed any intentions to invest into military development, the few things future industries deliver for the united forces can be called trivialities – you´ll know that as well as I do." She responded, a shadow of the former Asami Sato lingering in her voice. The man smiled. "Miss Sato, with both know that this isn´t true. Your father made very promising offers, five years ago the earthern army invested quite the sums in the development of project squirreltoad. I´ve been sent to collect the debt your father owes my nation." He smiled.

"But that of course will not hinder a beneficial business relationship between the two of us, will it?" his voice had a subtle edge, which could just be interpreted as threat. Even though Asami would have loved to fracture this man's chin she could not muster the courage to get up and throw him out of her office. Colonel Chun KNEW she would not do it, and that was what led to her backing down.

She also felt she was no match to him in her current status. Her heart had started racing by the mention of her father. What was this project squirreltoad, and why did she know nothing about it! All equalist related projects had been found, listed up and published in the republic times years ago. That had been part of the deal with the council, which allowed her to keep her property. "I don´t know of such a project." Asami responded, her voice was flat and battered. The eyes of Colonel Chun started glowing in something that made Asamis heart stop, it seemed a demon was sleeping in this man, and she was close towards stirring him awake. "We both know that your father was really fascinated with fireworks – and after he showed me which handy tools you can run with it, we are interested. You´ll make so much money that you could built this shitty company twice over!" he stated friendly and added. "Just to make this clear; I DEMAND the blueprints that were promised my supervisors five years ago." He stated coolly "Our patience has finally run out and since your father is not amongst the living any more..." He placed a document on the table and stated smiling "Read yourself."

Asami picked up the paper with prickling hands, she could barely control. She gasped, there was the royal seal of the earth Queen, all high generals had signed, as had – her father. Asami Sato´s face showed pure horror, she did not even notice the words that escaped the man´s lips. "Pathetic rich child." There were just the words of the contract ringing in her head. _"Any inventions of Hiroshi Sato, or sato Industries, regarding any type of black powder related projectile weaponry are hereby transferred into the intellectual and worldly property of the Earthern Kingdoms royal army. The namely Mr. Sato is compensated in his efforts in form of advanced payment of 20.000 0000 yuan, which shall be transferred in form of the royal mining company."_

Her father had not just developed weapons for his own equalistic crusade, he had even sold them to a cruel empress who kept people slaves! The world around Asami Sato was spinning. "No…no – there are no such blueprints!" she exclaimed desperate. Her father had seemed so happy as he finally was independent of the international market – that he could mine his own ore. He had thrown the fanciest party Asami could remember, to - to celebrate an arms deal! Something her father always had pictured as evil an immoral - how could he sign such a contract? He was not poor and nobody had threatened her live! Why, why had her father been so greedy for more power and money – or had he really buried his conscience along with his wive? "l-leave!" Asami Sato responded, her voice barely a whisper. Her long hair was hanging over her face. She felt numb, as if she had left this world already. The Colonel eyed his fingernails. "Well – I understand that a poor noble girl like you is shocked about people COLLECTING debts FROM you. We both know that I have the law on my side, no matter how big this FRIENDSHIP with Avatar Korra is, Miss Sato. I guess the Avatar would be proud pet behaving docile like it was trained?" He sneered. Asami Sato jumped from her chair, she would not let this scoundrel sullen Korras name, he could humiliate her as much as he wanted, but her friends were out of question!

The Colonels fingers shot forward and jabbed her chi points before a sluggish, now powerless, punch connected with his cheek. Pain was shooting through a gargling Asami Sato, whose body was twitching uncontrollably. What this man did to her she did not know, but she did know that he was a warrior that by far surpassed her fighting skills. "Really, you should be more civilized Miss Sato, otherwise…" he smiled devilish "men get aroused – or are you that desperate? Well – I´m here solely for business today." He chuckled almost humored. "And of course my name is not Chun, I´ll give you two weeks to find the blueprints of the Hiroshi Sato 1. The previous models have firing rates that are – too low, their accuracy is poor if given to untrained hands. Nevertheless, a skilled man can handle them…and I have some VERY skilled men in town Miss Sato." He stated. "Yo- you…don´t…dare." Asamis voice sounded sluggish as fire was dancing in front of her eyes. She had never endured so much physical pain, but still she tried to get back on her feet. This bastard was threatening her friends – the closest thing to a family she had ever known. And she could not even bow low and give him what he wanted, because she had no clue where to find it! She was powerless, a mere damsel in distress. "There is no daring Miss Sato – killing is nothing but business, a craft if you want to be correct." He smiled. "And you are no Master of it." He stated dryly turned and left. "Two weeks Miss Sato – or there´ll be some headlines in the Republic times." He responded casually and polite.

Even if two days had passed, Asami Sato still had not attended her office. Whenever she closed her eyes she heard his voice "two weeks Miss Sato…." Now it weren´t even two weeks anymore. Even though Asami knew she was the only one who could - who had to safe her friends - she was not able to do anything. She felt as if her body was breaking, she felt ill and somehow detached. Staring into nothingness was what she did for hours, and when she noticed, she threw herself into another searching fit. She had sliced all her plush animals, hired hands to remove the wooden wainscotings. Now she was rummaging through her father's working room, she hammered the legs of the table for hollow sounds. It was than some ruckus broke loose on the outside of the Sato mansion. But she had to search, her father had to hid it somewhere – he just HAD TO! She heard thundering steps in the staircase. "DAMN IT! Can´t you step even louder dumbasses – I´m paying you twice a craftsman´s wage so be QIET you damned sons of whores!" Asami yelled frustrated, what was she even doing under the table – oh, yes she was searching for a secret compartment in the solid wooden pillars. Instead of leaving her alone, the worker decided to enter her father's study.

"What have I ordered in…" she struggled and hit her head. She did not even notice the pain that caused, instead she rose from the ground. "Asami? What in all heavens are you doing here?" the startled voice belonged to nobody else than Mako. Asami really was not in the mood for talking with people – even if the person was Mako. "I´m busy – just go back to your job Mako." She responded, he would huff, bicker and finally leave. Mako had always taken a leave if things got serious with her, everybody had done so - except Korra. She had taken her to the spirits, had told her jokes and even had tried to make her talk about her father. She had not bothered to hold her sobbing form for, what seemed like hours. But there still were so many things she had not been able to say – it had been too soon. The young woman of course was not thinking that deeply, she just wanted to avoid any talk with Mako, mostly because she had the habit to get all babbly when he was around and had that look in his eyes. Instead of his usual behavior he sat down. "I´m not going Asami." He spoke silent. "So what are you doing here? It seems like you are searching something, so couldn´t you need a professional hand heh?" he asked smiling. "Fuck off Mako – I´m BUSY, got that? Go and search somebody else to entertain you!" she hissed. But the tall man did not go, he even opened his arms for a hug. Asami hadn´t expected that. Her mind was blank of any response. Mako wanted to help, but then he would get to know her father's most heinous deed – he would be disgusted. Asami Sato the war profiteer, living from blood stained money!

"NO!" she blurted almost screaming and rose from the floor, her hair disshelved, sweaty and with deep circles under her eyes. Mako of course looked as splendid as ever, if one ignored the terrible scar that now adorned his right arm. The young man's eyes widened. "Gods Asami, you look like hell! What happened?" he sounded concerned. There was a soft hitching sound that emerged from Asamis throat, but she already had risen her mask again. "I – I guess I´m moving on Mako, yeah…now that he´s gone." She trailed off, she could not even say who was gone. Not without throwing a tantrum. She again loathed her father and wished that she never had been born. No, she would not – she would not again be weak. "Get the hell out of my house Mako – I´ll…" she wanted so yell that she never wanted to see a treacherous leech like him again, but it wasn´t true. Mako was not a bad man, and she liked him, she liked him a lot. Mako gulped, he furrowed his brows, his teeth were grinding his scarred arm twitching wildly. "I´ll not go before I have said what I should have…." He cursed at his twitching arm, looking perfectly helpless for a moment - until he forcefully pressed it at his body. Asami had never seen her former lover like that. He had faced certain death, his arm would most likely never be reliable again – she felt sorry for him, and actually she would have loved to hug him now. But she had no time to spare for this trivialities – she had people to save.

Still he was not leaving, even though Mako hated it if somebody saw him vulnerable, he was possibly prouder than she herself. "What I should have said five years ago, Asami." He finished with a labored breath and new found determination. Asami Sato froze, she felt a sudden pain in her chest as she was reminded of her boyfriend, betraying her with her best friend. It had hurt her deeply and she had cried quite some nights away, she had solely stayed in contact with the gang because she did not want to lose the friendship she shared with Bolin and Korra. But with the time she had been able to forgive Mako, because he was incapable of opening up to people, always trying to keep his secrets because he thought it safer – he couldn´t even keep straight lines with Korra! "T-there´s nothing to say?" she stuttered, her voice was trembling and Asami Sato balled her fists, the raw skin on her knuckled hurting. "Yes there is Asami. I have betrayed your trust. We were very young and didn´t know what LOVE really means, but that´s no excuse – I treated you unfair and dishonorable…please forgive me Asami. I treated you like an old lycheenut and if you despise me I can understand that." He actually fell to his knees and bowed low, his head hitting the floor. Asami could not say anything, her throat was clamped shut by iron cables. Mako did not raise, he stayed in the uncomfortable position. Before she knew what her body was doing she tried to pull her friend back on his feet. It was then, that a shocked Asami Sato was hugged, she inhaled the strong, slightly charred presence of her former boyfriend, who was squeezing her like there was no tomorrow.

"Thank you Asami, t-thank you for s-still being my friend." Mako´s voice was hoarse and teary. If he knew the real me he wouldn´t call me his friend any more, the nagging cruel voice in her head responded. Mako released her, smiling gently- Asami was almost startled by the beauty his face displayed for a moment. She could not even respond something witty or aggressive. Then his kind smile was washed away as he eyed her sternly. "You know; I felt broken when I awoke in the hospital, with…THIS!" he raised his mutilated arm, there still was pain in his voice. "It seemed I must have talked quite a lot before I came back to my senses. The next day the healer that had worked me came in my room. He said that I would never solve my problems if I kept going the way I did… keeping things from your loved ones will not diminish their hurt – it will just make the pain worse. Stop being a coward and say what you are feeling Mr. Chow, for if you don´t do, I´ll wonder why I and my colleagues missed out a good night´s sleep to save your life." Mako told, his eyes far away. Asami did not like where this was going, she simply stormed out of the room as she started sobbing loudly. The men that were working on her house looked disturbed, some even tried to stop her frantic flight, which just stopped as she reached the highest room of Sato mansion – her nursery. There she sagged onto her knees shivering. She wanted to tell them – but she was afraid they would despise her.

Why couldn´t she tell him? Sato Asami´s shoulders heaved even more violently and she lost all track of time and space. When she finally came back to her senses she felt light, lighter then she had for weeks, and she was so sleepy she almost dozed off on the hard wooden floor. She was feeling dizzy as a warm hand gripped her forearm and gently pulled her from the floor. "H-Hey!" she protested weakly, her puffy eyes blinked in surprise, a very sad looking Mako was resting his injured hand on her shoulder. "It´s a shame I can´t stay with you as long as you need me Asami. I have a lead bit murderer to catch, as you most likely know. Nevertheless, I promise that I will drop by as soon and as often I can. You know, you can tell me anything Asami. Please just rely on me for once, like I always relied on you – ok?" He replied serious. Asami Sato gulped, her whole face was hurting from her crying. He led her to the small children´s bed, which was not much longer than the young woman herself. It still was made ready, so Asami wrapped herself in the slightly dusty blanket and dug her head in the cushion her mother had made for her, when she was little. "Even you are human Asami, and at the moment you need something to hold onto. I want you to have him." Mako responded and placed something on her nightstand. "Bye Asami, and if it´s anything please…. please give me a call. Don´t act all proud n jerky – you really don´t need to repeat my mistakes." The young man stated and added softly "sleep well." Asami just managed a weak mumbling "Yes Mako" , which would have suited an infant, nevertheless she felt grateful, it seemed she had not just one real friend, but two.

Finally, Mako Chouw left. Now she had not minded if he stayed, Asami turned to see what he wanted to give her. As she eyed the worn auburn scarf he had left behind her eyes got teary again, she grabbed the piece of cloth and pressed it to her chest feeling sad an bubbly all at once. Still she was worn out by two days without sleep and so, finally, Asami Sato was able to sleep.


	9. Lin the furious

**Chapter 9: Lin the furious**

I was up and running since the dawn had clad the town into morning dew, the air felt clean and dustless. I had been on my way towards the noodle cart, but a rather strange scene had woken my interest. The abandoned houses on the other side of the street suddenly were brimming with life. Walls were torn down, bricks carried onto the streets and many delivery trucks delivered things that were carried into the buildings at god forsaken hours. If I had been a usual noodle cart owner I of course would have snored soundly at five in the morning, but my customers also had a rather strange eating pattern. I still had not been able to see Lin, even if it was almost a weak since I started showing up in front of the headquarters. This was worrying me because there could be no way Ping had warned her – Ping wouldn´t do something like this.

And what was even more important, Ping did not know how close we had been in the past, so he simply had no reason to tell Lin about my return. I´ve always kept my family to myself for obvious reasons. Maybe I would finally gather the courage to make some chili peppered fish dumplings and storm Lin´s office, but firstly I wanted to know what these guys were doing! Three farmer longbed´s were parked in front of the tall buildings, which seemed as shabby as always. The men moving in and out there were member of the terra triad, as could easily be seen by their authentic terra band tattoos. I finally caught a glimpse of a strangely wound copper spiral, which was carried into the building with utmost care. Other men were erecting Scaffoldings in front of the facades. Also there was quite the big hole in the outer wall – you could look into the room. The ceiling had been torn out partially, while being substituted by massive iron T-bars. This spiral reminded me on old Chu "Blindmaker" Zhao, a moonshiner back in shangyang. If these guys were tearing holes in ceilings to install a distillery they really were thinking big. The hood definitely was chosen ideal, too good for rampaging gangwars and mooneaters – if you screwed some local kids – and too bad for the cops to investigate on weekly basis. Also we had a rather good working sewage system, and such, easy ways for transporting illegal goods in an out without many people noticing. I still could not be sure and so decided to go out and ask the guys. Even I had heard rumors about new, lab made, drugs that were on a different level compared the traditional stuff.

But such a lab was nothing I would like in my neighborhood and so I hoped to get a close up glimpse into the building. I knew a moonshine distillery when I saw one, that was for sure. "Morning lads!" I greeted them while opening the garage. A young triad man almost dropped the toolbox he was carrying. One of the older, most likely higher ranking men waved and swaggered into my direction. Typical earth nation thug nobility he was. A man as tall as an Oostrich horse, with shoulders broad enough to hide a door behind them. Of course he now was wearing an impressive belly under his leathery longcoat. My well trained eyes spotted a pair of small hammers beyond the loose flapping leather, which tried to cover a bare, hairy chest. "Ah look at that boys, a noodle maker. Damn it asshole – can´t yer be decent like yer neighbors n not bother in our business?" he snarled huffing his chest. I stood calmly, he wanted to scare me. But if it didn´t work, this would also not be a problem because I sure as hell was NOT the only one in this street who knew what these guys were building.

I just was the only one who had the guts to go outside while they were working. "Eh – what business. Aren´t you building a nice place in the moonshine?" I smirked, I was sure I could easily take this guy – I was a bender after all. The man blinked, his slim eyes almost disappearing in his broad face. "A look at that – a real funny pal huh?" he snickered. "Doin´ my best to entertain ya. Nah fer serious, better ya have an eye on my garage then some kid´s of the hood. " I responded. If you came to a gang asking for protection it mostly came in cheaper than the other way round. Furthermore, you had the chance of actually being protected! The man smiled. "Hm…I guess my head is a bit fuzzy from yesterday – what were ya saying Noodle boy?" he asked me feigning ignorance. I took out my last fifty yuan notes and waved them in the air. "I talk about a contract dear Sir – you watch my cart, I buy some of the stuff you´re brewing – if it´s good of course – and your boys tear every fuckers guts out who thinks about stealing my stuff." I responded dryly.

The man was simply grabbing for my money, while I dodged with two short steps and slightly kicked against the side of his knee. He was startled and almost hissed. Damned, wasn´t he interested? The man laughed a coughing laugh. "Gutsy for such a tiny lil twerp, are we?" he responded and turned to me. "Actually, what´s yer name noodle boy?" he asked me. "Lee – pops." I responded smirking, I was not going to lose against an old served enforcer, who had beaten his brains away years ago! "Really, god´s yer mom must´ve been stoned like hell to give yer such a name…mine definitely was, Name´s Aang – do I look like some friggin monk, man?" he griped. While I would have beaten up this guy for the mother comments in my youth I now was able to smile about him. "You ARE bald..." I responded. "At least I was born stoned I guess." I added shrugging. The guy laughed along with his cronies. He turned. "Eh lads- get the FUCK back to work – what´re ya even paid for!" he yelled with a sharp voice. "Yeah- yeah boss, chill down man!" the grunts were mumbling a lot of other less pleasant things but they obeyed, being simple soldiers this was the only thing they could do.

"So Aang, what´s the deal, twenty for you and twenty for the boys a month?" I asked him. Actually I was not even causing work for the guys, because they had to eye the street anyway! "In yer dreams shorty!" Aang responded clapping his wobbly belly. "More like thirty fer me n twenny fer the boys." He stated firmly. Never haggle with triads – second law of shangyang – so I just gave him the hundred yuans. "Ya know – I like being a month in the plus, never know if some monsoon tails ruin the business." I responded truthfully. "Clever ya are man – ran with a gang as a kid?" he asked while he grinning marched towards the garage and jabbed his finger in the bricks, carving the kanji for earth into the wall. He did the same next to the house entrance. "Sorta, always was more of the solitary type man. Ya know flat hierarchy's n stuff." I answered. Aang laughed, which lead to him having a coughing fit. "Till than flat hierarchies Lee – I´ll send a lad to ya when the first bottles are rollin out." He responded.

Thank the heavens, just a distillery! So I opened the garage door, swung myself onto the noodle cart and started cycling into the city. When I arrived at my usual spot next to Lao I was in the midst of setting up my cart as Inspector Chouw almost stormed my stall. "Mr. Lee – we´ve got to have a talk." He stated worked up. I frowned, what the hell did the kid want from me. "See Inspector – I´m damn busy. Your colleagues want their dumplings in an hour so I can´t hang out with you." I responded. "Hang out? I thought you were bout forty…at lea…the FUCK your´re even OLDER than fourty!" he exclaimed startled. Lao just shook his head. "Your Jasmine Lee – extra weak, as always." He responded. Lao always tried to make me drink stronger teas, because they had more fragrance as he said! I was giving a fuck about fragrance if it came to teas, I just wanted to quench my thirst. "You said you´d like to be my consultant, and now I´ve got new bodies!" he exclaimed. "And the disturbing thing is that they´re all nonbenders!" he reported. I almost spit my tea out. "The fuck – that´s interesting." I responded thoughtfully. Actually this was confirming a theory that had lingered in my mind. An equalistic Killer was a great headline, but it definitely was bullshit. Why five years after Amon was killed? Furthermore, equalists always operated in groups and if one still exited it sure as hell did not have many bending members anymore.

"Interesting – it fucks up all I´ve made up Mr. Lee. I can start from scratch again!" he rambled and than sighed frustrated. I was firing up the coal oven. "Actually I never believed in an equalist Inspector." I responded dryly. The kid was eyeing me puzzled. "You know – equalists would need some kind of weapon that shoots these projectiles, and if they had this sort of high velocity catapult, they would mass produce it und try another revolution. I always thought of – airbenders." I responded. If something could build up that much velocity it was pressured air, bent through a drainpipe or something, maybe with a funnel at one end. "WHAT?" the inspector was disturbed. "Generating high pressured air currents into a pipe, like a pimped blowgun." I responded thoughtfully. I simply had to try that out. Mako stared at me wide-eyed. "That´s, that´s just a crazy idea, but it sounds frighteningly real." He stated. "Thanks Mr. Lee, but we´ve got a problem there…Why should an airbender kill some shady teahouse owners AND probending association leaders?" he asked rhetorically. "I´d say out of political reasons, but these teahouse guys were nonbenders in third generation – perfect equalists. And the probending guys weren´t criminals!" He rambled. "And if it´s not about Rep City but some other stuff. You know that a quarter of the Dai Li assassinations took place in the firenation, do you?" I responded. "Mr. Lee, you´re quite educated for a noodle cart owner." The kid responded smiling. "Well I love physics as a hobby…" I trailed off, the water was already boiling. Good. "Some dumplings? Hippo cow extra spicy again?" I asked him.

"Nono – they were for a friend, she really loved them. I´ll take the usual." He responded. The usual meant the day´s special, which today was simmered pork with pickled banana onions. "Makin it ready." I responded while speedily placing the dumplings in the steamer, my old skills were coming back. "By the way Inspector – you don´t have time for bending practice sometimes do you?" I asked him. When I wanted to fuck up Tenzin I had to hone my bending skills, the guy had manuals and techniques I never heard of. And it would be a shame if I lost a duel I initiated, wouldn´t it? He furrowed his brows. "Why do you need practice, you said you aren´t a firebender! And heavens you own a noodle cart!" he responded. " I like bending? Yes – but firebending is closest to airbending, both are flowing and resisting – y know." I responded, what was this kid thinking of me. Mako´s eyes flew wide. "So you´re an airbender, but why aren´t you with the nomads?" he asked me. It annoyed me that even a policeman stuck to stereotypes that easily. As if every airbender liked idiotic looking wingsuits and fried tofu! Even if the media made it seem like a new air nation had arisen could be farther away from truth.

This nation was nothing but an order of people dedicated to public service – or the perverted version oft that, if you wanted to mention the son´s of the winds. But most of the airbenders simply lived anywhere through the earthern kingdoms, in families that hadn´t much to do with anything nomadic! And of course there also were hardcore nomads amongst them, and people in between – like myself! I shrugged. " I hate being bossed around, I like meat, I like weapons, fights, automobiles, alcohol and hard tribal…" I counted valid arguments for NOT becoming a nomad. He blinked astonished. "Hard tribal, aren´t you a bit too old for that?" he responded honest. I laughed "What´s music got to do with age kid? Also the southern wolf´s second drummer is just eight years younger than me!" I piped up. "You really like this growling and yelling nonsense? Combined with crazy drum beats that make your ears hurt?" Lao stated disturbed, he looked rather mortified. "Heck yeah pal!" I raised my fist into the heavens, as it was popular amongst hard tribal fans. "That's just violation of instruments! The only things that look good may be the singers!" Lao whimpered. I ignored his childish bickering.

"But back to that case of yours Inspector – is there something else that could be called a political crime? Like some really big theft of machinery, or gold?" I asked. For a second he dropped his face, then he enthusiastically patted my shoulder. "You´re insanely good at this man. Yes, damn straight there was a really big theft in staomobile automobile – and that weaponry idea is interesting. Damn it yeah – if some guys wanted to make an airnomad revolution they could go from this angle. And these sons´s of the winds demand more land than just the temples. And they want money from the firenation - a really absurd sum." He responded babbly. "Well, you owe me some training pal." I responded smirking. He eyed me questioning. " So you´re an airbending noodle cook." He stated the obvious. "Aye man." I responded. "You know I was a probending champion Mr. Lee and you have your bending like – four years, without any training from a Master – while I was worked by Lightning Bolt Zolt when I was a kid? And I´m like half your age and twice your muscle?" he obviously didn´t want to hurt my pride, actually I could not blame him for not taking me serious.

" I didn´t know about this Zolt guy, but you might be surprised at my performance. I would resort to my daughter sparring with me if she weren´t somewhere in this city doing, I don´t know what?" I responded humored. Actually I wasn´t missing Sokka as badly as I feared, mostly because I was sure that she was doing fine. "When and where?" I asked him. "Um…whenever you´re free. I guess in eight hours or such? I´ll just head towards the bunks and grab some sleep." He responded stifling a yawn. He leaned closer. "Seems you´re that Lee, the Chief seems to hold you quite dear you know? You should visit her sometimes, Lin Bei Fong doesn´t get many private visitors." He responded. I wondered when Lin had talked about me, with this kid. For a moment I was startled as I felt a slight blush creep into my cheeks. This guy really knew how to make people feel guilty! "I will Inspector – even if I may crap my pants in the process." I responded almost grim. He nodded. " Chief Bei Fong is really scary sometimes, fully do understand you. Well, I better keep going or I don´t grab any sleep at all, which would be very bad." He responded walking away with his bag of dumplings. "What were you whispering with Ispector Chouw Lee?" Lao piped up as soon as the Inspector could not hear him anymore. How nosy could one be, wasn´t it obvious we didn´t want him to hear our conversation? I blinked in awe. "Ow come on Lee, I don´t know why the guy is digging you like that but I´ll be quit as a grave!" he hustled over and almost stuck his face in my ear. "The fuck man – get the hell away from me!" I griped. "And that kid´s definitely not DIGGIN me, or to be precise I´m not gay for Koh´s sake – and if I were I would not fuck little boys!" I rambled while Lao backed up almost frightened. An old woman looked into my direction, her brows furrowed, she spit over her left shoulder to ward of the evil, also she changed her direction. Damn, that lady had bought some dumplings almost every day.

Soon afterwards I was occupied by serving his colleagues and people from the market district. It seemed my dumplings were becoming popular because sometimes s small queue formed in front of my stall. I made four yuan that day – which was my record up till now. Eight hours later Inspector Chouw showed up, this time not dressed in his uniform. He wore casual clothing, dark pants, rough boots, a frock coat over a white shirt. Interesting was that he did not wear his auburn scarf, which looked as if it were as old as Chouw himself. It was the first time I saw him without the uggly thing. "Here I am Mr. Lee – so let´s hit the gym." He responded smiling. He really seemed rested. "Lead the way – and why the hell are you calling me Mr. Lee, who has Lee as a surname?" I snickered. "You´re calling me Inspector, even if you are my senior." The officer returned. "You should call me Mako, or Chouw as you like." He responded. "Mako it is. Actually I hate being called a Mr. it sounds like I was some important person." I added. I really hated titles, because those who wore them mostly were arrogant pricks. Mako did not respond anything to that. The young pal seemed to have a stick in his backside. We chatted a bit about details of his prominent case but sadly I could not help him again. I had left republic city for too long for that. I even did not know half the places he was talking about. In the meantime, Republic City had grown so much it could compete with Ba Sing Se in everything besides history. Mako was rather sharp, nevertheless there was no nail to the coffin up till now, the case was full of holes. Actually we had no real lead, nobody had seen anyone, nobody had heard anything besides strange thunder. Thunder – that did not sound like pressured air. It was a rather long way which lead rather close to the dragonflats, which judged by the covers, still were the hellhole they were twenty years ago.

We arrived at a rather run down gym. It had quite some charm to it, I never liked places that were all glossy and new, I simply couldn´t feel at home there. Not even the Bei Fong household had been an exception, but thanks to the Chiefs crazy moods the house never looked – neat. There often were some piles of rubble in the living room, or uncleaned dishes lying around somewhere. "So you´re not so much upperclass as the media let´s people think Mako – I like that." I responded eyeing the place. "Chrm. Yeah – it´s the place where I and Bolin started training, I simply can´t get rid of it." He answered my question, a faraway look in his amber eyes. "Simpler times back then." He replied. I did not want to dig into this, most likely Mako had some things to figure out, like where he belonged and where he wanted to go with his life. He was in the decisive age, in his early twenties. We then entered, there was no wardrobe or a doorman. It smelled clean but the building itself lacken any charme. The plaster was crumbling from the walls, the chairs looked as if they had seen better times,too. Nevertheless, it was rather lively here, a lot of local youths were assembled here, idly chatting. Mako was greeted by a bunch of sportive looking pals his age. They were dressed rather poor, tattooed cheaply and sporting a look that screamed rebels. After changing into a used looking and definitely used smelling leather armor we entered the training rooms. There was nothing but a flat stone floor, the gym was set up for combat sport entirely. We both started stretching, loosing out joints and muscles, Mako was quite flexible for such a big and bulky guy. He nevertheless was startled as I also picked sixteen stone dumbbells and managed lifting them. Most likely the kid had thought I was getting fat, like most old geezers, he was dead wrong. Lee Bei Gao was finally getting muscular!

We both were streaked in sweat after the warm up. Other guys were throwing millstones into nets, or shot flames at iron gongs. Standard move practice, there wasn´t even a trainer around it seemed. "So – let´s gotta go." I smiled end entered the training arena, my body was steaming and full of Energy. The Areny was basically a traditional Agni Kai ground, a rather sloppy made on top of that. The officer entered releasing a circling arc of yellow flames. Grazing dragon, followed by shattering fortress. His wounded arm was slow, and it also seemed he was weak on the right side in general. I forbade myself to make use of that, because Tenzin surely had not a crippled right arm. I leaned back, and spun around on my heels, the air forming a hissing cocoon around myself. His flames dissipated. I responded with a similar arching low kick, the air was eager, waiting for my command. Shatter the pillar was a typical earthbending move but nevertheless it worked with airbending perfectly well. The blast was heavy and wide, but it didn´t even come close to my opponent. He seemed astonished because the sandbags started swinging five feet outside the ring. He started with Bodhisatvas thousand glowing hands. I had to duck and dogde, while searing hot flames were forcefully hissing through the air right and left besides me. I countered with the traditional phoenix wings, but it seemed as if Mako didn´t even have to think how to dodge them.

After a felt eternity the young man was rather annoyed. It was kind of humiliating for a former probender to be played by an old noodle man like that. Chouw snorted annoyed, wove his arms while strongly stepping, one forth, he took two hard blasts into his chest but even if it was painful he did not fall back, two left, handstraising in front of the chest. Flames were hissing into the air, curling themselves in bright orange whips. Sadly, Yumi had been the empress of firewhips – I literally stumbled through them without wasting a thought on defense, nevertheless a had not the time to counterattack. Actually I was too cautious because I expected him to be faster, and more cunning. Makos comrades obviously had dropped their training to take a closer look at the two of us, even if some of them almost were singed by the young man's arching firesnakes. Mako went through the whole Imperial school, throwing everything at me he had. He really had to be a natural to have this much stamina, I had to bend my soul out to stay unscorched by this flurry of offensive. More than once If felt a singing heat on my skin. It was a felt eternity until I got my fist hit in, interesting it was a simple, straight palmblast that almost propelled his staggering form out of the ring. In the end he nevertheless defeated me with something I had never expected, a front up charge competed by a simple punch into my stomach. As I was eying the ceiling with a heaving chest I had to laugh. That a kid could fool me like that, I really had gotten dull with my honorable dojo routine! I was gasping for air, as was Mako. The guys were cheering and somebody helped me back on my legs.

For a long time my body hadn´t gotten so much strain – it felt good to go all out again. "Where the heck did you pick up that guy Mako? The guy´s for hire?" some bulky earthbender asked as I scrambled back up, ignoring the pain in my stomach. "At a noodle stand." Mako responded honestly. The guys started laughing. "What the hell are you old man!" he responded shaking his head. "How on earth could you walk through my wips like that." He almost sounded hurt. I chuckled "My wife pulled them even better than you do kid. We almost sparred on daily basis after I left the forces." I smirked. Mako blinked. "ok, you really are a strange guy Lee…Man you fought your wife – that's kinda sick!" He responded wrinkling his nose. I shrugged, I was used to being called strange by now "I´m taking that as a compliment kid. Damn it, I´m done for today. Guess we should do that again." I responded, I was thirsty and hungry like a boarcupine. Luckily there was a bucket of water hanging onto the wall, I took the wooden lalde and emptied it twice. "My pleasure." Mako responded "I guess I´ll stay for al little chat with the guys Lee. See ya tomorrow." He responded while turning to his childhood friends. "Sure – have fun. See ya!" I nodded courtly and made my way towards the showers. "Bye Lee" "Take care old man." The kids were rather friendl. Actually I was not interested in talking to Mako´s friends, I really talked enough with people, while I was working. Also I knew I was a lot older than his pals, which would make it awkward if I was too close with the guys.

Furthermore the most of these kids weren´t interesting at all, I had the privilege not to bother with boring people. Later that evening, my muscles sore from the workout, I was standing in front of the police headquarters. They felt looming and dangerous. I still was unsure what Lin would do to me, but I had decided I would stand my ground and fight. I owed her that much after just breaking off contact like a jerk. Since I knew the police station by heart I had not the necessity to ask anybody for directions. Nevertheless, the different departments had changed locations inside the building. The old main station felt rather crowded, long gone the days these corridors were empty and dust filled! Finally, I had smuggled myself in front of the Chief´s office. I was wondering if Lin was still in there, I doubtfully stared at the hippo cow spring onion dumplings in my hands. If it still was one of her favourites after more than twenty years? I knocked. Nobody responded. I knocked louder. "Enter!" a harsh voice snarled. I almost didn´t recognize her voice, that sounded a lot more like her mother's then the voice I remembered. I froze. My limbs were close to moving backwards, god´s damn it Lee Bei Gao ain´t a sissy! I tried to motivate myself. "Gods damn it – come in or I´m coming out, officer!" Lin rambled annoyed. I slowly opened the door and moved in, my legs felt rather wobbly. I was shocked by Lins appearance.

Her face was settled a hard scowl with her scars prominent and dark, even in her office she was wearing an iron armor. Her face was hard as stone, she looked hard, hard and bitter. Age had not been gentle to her; the once silky black hair was grey already. She looked older than me. "H-hey Lin, you´ve got some time ummm…" I mumbled. Her eyes were flying wide as she looked at me, of course she had recognized me the second I entered her office. I was fumbling around with the bag in my hands. "Well – I´m sorry but…" I started while I desperately searched for words. "Get out of my office Lee – get the HELL OUT!" she bellowed, her face distorted in a mixture of pain and fury. "If you couldn´t bother to write a letter in twenty years I don´t need you in my office anymore." Lin had risen from her chair. The woman looked hurt and furious, her fists balled thightly. "Please let me explain why I…" I pleaded. "FUCK OFF LEE OR I´m forgetting I´m on duty and hurl you outside!" Lin threatened me while she curved up a part of the massive steel plate of her desk. As I saw the simmering rage in her emerald eyes I felt like I had been stabbed through my chest. I dropped my dumplings in shock. "I´ll not give this up Lin." I stated absent and turned before I realized that I had done what I had planned NOT to do. But when I thought about it rationally, it was of no use if Lin bended me into a wheelchair for the rest of my days. It would just make our problems bigger, because little Linny would feel so guilty she would do anything I asked from her. Her face was unreadable, it seemed as if she wanted to say something, but she did not and so I left the office. Like a beaten raccoondog I made my way home. I would try it tomorrow again, and the day after tomorrow. Even Mountains corroded with time and so would Lin Bei Fongs wrath – at least I hoped so!


	10. Avatar gone bad

**Chapter 9: Avatar gone bad**

Korra returned from her training, she had started honing her body again. Her whole body burned and she felt happy. Also her hands were full of blisters after starting lifting weights again. It felt surprisingly good, even though she would definitely change her mind in the next few weeks. The sun had climbed the horizon and most likely nobody besides Tenzin was awake at this hour. Her mentor was an early riser, like the firebenders of legend. The firebenders she knew didn´t raise with the sun for a shim! She had showered in the women´s dormitory and was heading onto the wide lawn that stretched in front of Tenzin`s house. Indeed, her former teacher was gliding through his katas, without as much as releasing a slight breeze. Bending strongly was something for youths, he always responded if somebody asked him why he was not practicing like a normal bender. "Morning Tenzin." The young woman yelled, surprised about her own cheerfulness. Tenzin froze amidst the praying monk – a rather ridiculous looking traditional pose, where he was almost kneeling while raising his hands above his head. "K-Korra?" he asked, his usually calm voice sounding disturbed. "Yes – that´s me o wise Master." She shot back smirking and walked up to him. He rose from his ridiculous pose, a slight layer of sweat on his almost ascetic features.

"You´re up this early – has something happened?" he asked worried, even a worried Tenzin sounded unbelievingly formal. Korra had to chuckle at her Master. "No- not really. I just made some decisions Tenzin, for example that working out is a brilliant idea." She responded almost bubbly. There was a serene smile around his lips. "I´m very happy you found yourself again Korra." He responded patting her shoulder. The Avatar huffed, always this depth with Tenzin - it made her throat go tight and caused goosebumps! Also he was wrong – she had never felt lost, more like insecure and doubtful! "I gave this many good thoughts Tenzin, you´re not wrong when you say that I should do good as the Avatar. But I – I don´t do things anymore because I´m the Avatar, I do things because I´m Korra." She stated seriously staring into Yue bay. Tenzin chuckled. "You always did things because you´re Korra, child." He shook his head. "All this meditation and retreating from people was just because you thought you´re the Avatar before you´re you?" he sighed and turned dead serious. "I never thought we would be so much alike Korra – but in the end we both had to rise up from my father's mighty shadow. You even more than me, who pictured himself as the second Aang for almost forty-five years." He responded. Korra gulped, Tenzin seemed to understand – he really did.

"Thank you for giving me space Tenzin." She responded honestly. It was not Tenzins duty to let her live with his family, so some gratitude definitely was fitting. "This is your home for as long as you want Korra, you´re like a daughter to me. You saved my family, if somebody owes you gratitude it is me." He responded bowing courtly. Korra turned her head away, this man sometimes was too much feels to handle, especially because he acted so formal all the time. "Would you mind accompanying me onto a small walk? The sunrise is beautiful from the eastern cliffs." He invited Korra almost casually. She nodded, after all she had no appointments today. "Did I really look so bad you couldn´t tell me about Kai becoming a master?" she responded with a hint of anger in her voice. Tenzin´s face did not drop. "I was not sure Korra – you´re just so unreadable sometimes. Furthermore, I got the news yesterday. My daughter has become an adult in Ba Sing Se. She act´s like the Master she is now…. Jinora is more of a leader to the nomads than I myself. I´m very proud of her, she´s a lot like her grandfather in many things, even if she is more serious." He responded. Korra smiled.

"You spoilsport – I wanted to get all snappy and now you´re telling me that you didn´t know…but how did Lobsang know of it?" she responded, her eyes spitting fire. Tenzin flinched in front of the smaller woman until his brows furrowed in a genuine annoyed frown. "This – this person is making me lose my temper one day." He grumbled. "now he even is reading my letters, I will have to remind novice Lobsang WHO the Master of Airtemple Island is." He fumed silently. Poor Lobsang – Korra knew that there were few things more terrible than the wrath of a gentle man like Tenzin. "I knew he was annoying you." Korra piped up, which just lead to a disappointed look of her former master. "And I thought you finally were an adult young woman." He sighed authentically, just his eyes sparkling in merriment. "So you´re ok with Kai being a master, too?" she asked, Tenzin and Kai weren´t overly found of each other, they respected each other but they definitely would not win Korra´s buddy award. "Yes – It is a pragmatic decision. We need leaders, and since I don´t wanted to introduce the old monkish system with abbots, high monks and such…we need more airbending masters. And of course I´m not sticking to the ancient rites word by word Korra. I´ll nominate people because they can lead, not because they are close to the winds and make up new bending techniques! And Kai is a born leader, though his methods may be a bit uncivilized." he answered. Korra knew that Tenzin wanted to use a word like brutish or barbaric, but he would not be Tenzin if he did. The guy could not even say monkey feathers without blushing, which was rather cute.

"And what have you decided in the Ikki case?" Korra asked her Master, he and his wife led quite the heated argument two days ago. "That." He was definitely queasy talking about Ikki and her boyfriend. "I wonder you could keep your questions to yourself for so long." He smiled. "We came to a conclusion that hopefully is suitable for all people involved. Even if I think Ikki is very young…So were my parents. I´ll not judge a book by it´s covers. That was the reason for the differences between me and Pema. I´ve invited Ikkis friend over for tomorrow, which Pema does not like at all." He pinched his nose and sighed. "She still is pouting. Nevertheless, I lectured my daughter about her inappropriate behavior, not even drinking maiden's fern…. Finally, I led a rather serious talk about what love really is – and I might have confiscated some - books. Lastly I grounded Meelo for drinking unhealthy amounts of rootbeer in his room." he shook his head disgusted. "Ikki promised me to take precautions and I´ll make sure she does. Actually it could be worse – if she was drinking alcohol and harassed people…. I would have much more issues with that." He responded almost content. "Whoa… Tenzin – is that you?" Korra responded distracted. She always had thought that Tenzin was the strict parent incarnate, it seemed she had been wrong. Tenzin chuckled at the Avatars surprise.

"Please Korra – I am not that bad!" he defended himself. "I´m just the opinion that you should do things the right way, and you should do them civilized – but I don´t think I´m the holder of the only truth about living one´s life. And what kind of father would I be if I did not trust my children?" he responded, hands clasped behind his back. "And that would be all news concerning my family Korra. But if we´re talking about friends and family. How is Team Avatar doing?" he asked her. Korra sighed. "I´m worried about Asami, Tenzin. She has bottled up far too much. But even if I try really hard – she´s just not breaking, which makes me fear what happens IF she finally breaks down. Damn it – she just can´t talk about her feelings because she´s a puddle on the floor before she starts whenever I keep pushing! You know – it feels like hell when you can´t do anything. She – she just cries but that doesn´t HELP!" Korra griped worried. "I´ve thought about her a lot as well Korra – Asami Sato is nobody you can help, she needs time." He responded, which led to Korra muttering some rather unfriendly phrases in her mother tongue. Her Master did not respond anything towards her foul language. "But I advise you to visit her more often, show her that you appreciate her company." He stated serene. Yeah – just say I´m a bad friend, Korra rambled in her head.

She felt a pang of guilt, she really had been too occupied with musing for the past few weeks. She grumbled. "Bolin and Opal are dancing somewhere above the clouds, since they´re married. So I don´t know what´s going on with the two of them." She added. "You wanted to say since Opal is pregnant." Tenzin responded smiling gently. "WHAT!" the Avatar exclaimed in shock for the second time this morning. "My giddy sister told me – I guess the two of them want to keep it secret a bit longer. You´re almost drooling Korra." He mused. "D-D-Drooling! That´s ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS? One of my best friends is becoming a father and I GET THE NEWS FROM MY AIRBENDING TEACHER!" Korra rambled. "Oh Bolin you little rascal – I´ll going to plummet your sorry ass!" she was plainly happy, but she had to gripe, these little secretive mongrels. Korra started into the sea. "Gods, who are you – where is Tenzin?" she responded baffled, which led to a heartily laughing councilman. "Standing right in front of you Korra, as far as I know. And what´s going on with Mako, you´re dancing closely again?" he asked smiling. "Eh – if you want to say dating I have to disappoint you Tenzin, if you´re asking about me and him being friends I guess you´re right?" she responded. Tenzin shrugged. "I´m just interested in the members of my big family." He sounded satisfied.

"Well – Mako is making friends at the job, he´s moving up in the force, already Inspector. Also he´s – opener - since the arm thing, he actually talks, which is really nice." She responded content. "What would you think if I blackened my hair?" she responded. Tenzin was blinking. "To be honest, I always thought of natural beauty being superior compared to pastes and colors." Tenzin responded. "But I´m wondering why YOU talk about dying your hair Korra, you never struck me as a conceited person?" Korra chuckled. "It´s not about looks Tenzin, it´s just that I want to go into the city again, and I want to minimize the risk of being called Avatar Korra. I have holed myself up for long enough. You know that the people are talking about me, taking over the council if I do too much public work." Tenzin was raising his hand.

"It´s ok Tenzin – the people have a right to lead a live without me, they´re not children! They can make decisions. I accept that happily because I don´t love doing my job that much…I actually like the sound of leading a more ordinary life, without revolutions, battles and my friends being targeted by criminals." She smiled sadly, looking much older than twenty-one. Tenzin was placing an arm around the young woman's shoulder. "That´s natural Korra, who wouldn´t want such a thing? If I recall how you were as you arrived here – it´s amazing how far we´ve come – huh?" he spoke. A smile flashed across Korras face. "I was an annoying brat that caused problems – geez it must have been horrible for you." She responded, wondering at her own childish actions. "Not half as horrible as my son!" Tenzin responded from the bottom of his heart. They both shared a laugh at Meelos costs. "He just has temper Master Tenzin." Korra responded formal, her nose wrinkled. "He´s a full grown spitfire, and he´s just barely grazing thirteen. But you´re right he is an amazing child – an amazing son. But parent´s always want to have perfect children, it is in our nature." He chuckled. "Not that I would give away my Meelo for some perfect puppet." He added. Korra snorted. "Anyway – I´m still shocked that Bo is having a kid – and Opal – that´s just. I suddenly feel like an old hag Tenzin! The hell, in a few years we´re all sitting together with drooling babies in our laps, or what?" for the first time in her life Avatar Korra felt old, it was a feeling she decided to loathe. Tenzin shook his bald skull.

"Old – don´t be overdramatic Korra, you´ve got a life in front of you. I on the other hand could start mourning about my long lost youth." He responded thoughtfully. "But age also has it´s good sides, or would you want to be sixteen again?" he asked the young woman. "Hell no Tenzin! I was a bratty teenager – overconfidence incarnate!" Korra blurted. "See – age is not bad." The airbender stated in silent triumph. They watched the sun rise in silence, her light sending a pleasant warmth through Korras veins. The kiss of agni relaxed her tensed muscles like a hot bath, if not better. "I´m wondering if the press conference today will be bad." Tenzin sighed, his jaw set. "Press conference? About the lead bit murders?" Korra asked interested. The Councilmans eyebrows twitched. "You´ve read a newspaper?" He asked wondering. "Didn´t you say you don´t want to do politics anymore?" he cleared his throath "I am happy you could bring yourself to do it again Korra. I´m proud of you." He responded patting her head. Korra enjoyed the hair ruffling, Tenzin had become some sort of fatherlike figure to her. "I still don´t want to – but just because I fear doing the wrong thing I can´t do nothing – because that can be even worse." She responded, her voice brimming with emotion. Tenzin nodded approving.

"And I´m definitely not accompanying you towards this conference Tenzin, I´m not involving myself as the Avatar – as Korra I´ll maybe help Mako though. If he finds out who the murderer is he´ll definitely need some serious backup…" She trailed off kneading her hands. The two of them slowly returned towards the house, as the acolytes started scrambling out of their beds. Tenzin seemed content and Korra was thinking about a disguise she could wear while visiting Mako or Asami. As they arrived in the big living room they noticed a topless Bumi sprawled across some cushions, while reading an ancient looking scroll. "Hey Bumi – what are you doing here?" Korra asked, she was used to the antics of the strange man. In his time with the nomads, the once slightly fat soldier had regained the wiry figure of his youth. "Bumi." Tenzin sighed as if he had bitten into an unripe plumato. "Good morning o wise brother of mine. I´m reading the teachings of Guru Lahima, so don´t disturb my unearthly joys!" he responded chewing on a string of Bamali bark. "Where would you have found such a scroll brother?" Tenzin frowned, Guru Lahima, the name alone made Korra feel unwell. "That´s a good question Tenzin." She added.

"In your vast collection Ten-Ten? Just look into your own bookshelves – or in Ikkis." Bumi cackled at himself, while Tenzin's left eye started twitching. "Can´t you behave your age sometimes – elder-brother-Bumi!" he hissed angirly. The older son of Aang rolled his eyes. "Geez have some fun sometimes Mr. Stiff pants. You´ve got to be horny sometimes – it´s human nature!" Bumi sat up, showing an admirable collection of smaller and bigger Scars on his upper body. Also he had three naked women tattooed on his chest, who were looking rather seductive. "My three bunnies are totally with me, bro." he pointed on his chest. "You should cover yourself Bumi, you´re embarrassing." Tenzin cleared his nose and strode on with flowing robes, while his brother stuck out a tongue. "Where did you get them?" Korra asked disturbed. Bumi loved showing off his "manly abs" ,but the tattoo definitely was new, the skin around it tinted a deep red. "And why are you up and running so early Korra? Some big plans for today?" he shot back wiggling his eyebrows. "Not really Bumi." She responded. "And these nice playthings here are from my newest conquest. Lau Mi is a tattoo artist – a beautiful woman, hotter than a fireflake." He sighed dreamy. Bumi and his ladyloves – a truly never ending story, Korra thought.

"Cool – you know I´m also thinking about getting inked. It´s traditional in the tribes." The woman responded. "Really – I totally can make an appointment for you. Come on Korra – you have to get to know Lau Mi!" Bumi offered jovial. "The lady totally digs me – aaall the way." He responded in a husky voice. Korra distanced herself a bit from the old man. "Too much info Bumi." She answered dryly. "Aww come on Korra, you´ve gotta be a bit easier than my bro." he responded snickering. "You know that Tenzin would search this woman, chain the two of you together and drag you into the shrine, right?" she responded with a twinkle in her eyes. "Pff he should try me." Bumi huffed his chest. Korra felt the slithery, unclear presence of the clamp the man used to keep his wiry, unkempt hair out of his face. She lifter her right hand and the clamp rose, tugging on Bumis hair. "Ouch. Fuck – let me go Korra." He yelped while waving his arms around like a madman. "Stop it – eieieieaaaa." He whimpered dramatically while the Avatar laughed bemused. "And YOU want to wipe the floor with Tenzin?" she quirked an eyebrow and released the clamp. Bumi frowned. "I can fight Korra – of course I wouldn´t fight Tenzin." He responded in one of his "serious fits" that were starting to become less and less. The times luckily were peaceful for once – if one ignored this heinous murder series.

"Man, you´re so creepy sometimes." Korra responded. Bumi cackled a laugh. "Yes – daddy said this sometimes too, what a father – to call his own SON CREEPY!" he beamed as if this was an achievement of great value. "Nevertheless Korra, I´m not letting this slide – you´re looking awesome today, which I can´t say for the last weeks, or months…" he trailed off sheepishly grinning. "Geez, now you too. First you start air bending after Tenzin, then you´re poking in Korras feelings after Tenzin…I just hope you don´t sleep with Pema after Tenzin does." Korra rambled annoyed, she definitely would not spill her feelings in front of loudmouthed Bumi! The man looked as if his eyes were falling out of his skull. "Oh ehm…not literally?" Korra tried to get herself out of the corner, while she blushed furious. Bumi cackled a crazy laugh. "Hell yeah – keep up the spirit Korra, then it´ll be as much fun as back the day. You know, when Uncle Sokka and auntie Toph came over with a barrel of Hori´s amber for just the three of us!" he grinned devilish. "Speaking of which – YOU owe me a drinking party!" he stated dead serious. "NO?!" Korra´s heart stopped for a second. She had no idea where Bumi went for a drink, but she would bet her last shim on the fact that it wasn´t a place where women wore more than undergarments.

"Oh- I could tell Tenzin what you said about me and Pema…oh please don´t kill me brother, we couldn´t help ourselves…I´m used to being beaten up by my brother…but do you know how to handle Pema?" a bottomless pit appeared between the rows of Bumis ivory-white teeth. Korra stuttered incoherently as she looked into the abyss that sat before her. "So, you´ll dress yourself up for tonight Miss Avatar." He responded in a sing song voice, suddenly his good natured self again. "Damn, I should´ve had the idea months ago!" he muttered to himself. Korra sighed, even if this evening was going to be unpleasant – nobody wanted to try out how far the crazy airbender was willing to go. The guy had received the golden kite…for playing bagpipes and dancing the rappati-dance, while cannibals rained spears and arrows on the beach his men were storming! "Fine, have it your way Bumi, but I swear -if any of your pals touches my backside, I´ll bring down the building." She threatened him to save the last bit of her pride. "Spoilsport." Bumi quipped back. "Clapping butts is an art Korra – technique is VERY important." He spoke in the tone of a royal fire sage. "You know… it´s important that you palm is open" Korra started heading towards her room, while Bumi followed her. "Like this – a hand prepared to hold the sweet fruits of womankind. You need to stand nonchalant, wait for the perfect distance and….do it with a gentle fervor." He spoke. Korra felt a gentle, though jolting touch on her backside. A subtle twitch went through her whole body, the Avatar snorted annoyed. "Really Bumi?" she sighed. "HMHHHHHHH!" he hummed contently. "Like ripe plumatos – damn you Meelo!" he mumbled under his breath.

"What?" Korra asked puzzled – was he talking about the consistence of her ass? "Meelo, leads two to one in the ass game." Bumi retorted dryly. "By the way, you and Jinora have plumatos – his points. Lin is supposed to have an overly ripe melon…if Meelo really is the god of asses." He responded. "I disagree with the vile little kid, though – she´s definitely something unpleasant, like raw bacon." He stated rubbing his hands. Korra stared dumb folded – yes there would always remain something about men that remained a mystery. Most likely that was one of the reasons that made them interesting, she mused.

The Avatar looked at herself, she had pasted her lips a deep black, according to her new hair color and even used this eye-powder Asami had bought her. Luckily this stuff had a manual going with it, because otherwise an unexperienced user like Korra might have blinded herself, you had to mix it with thinned motor oil! She wore one of her "old" outfits, long trousers and a blue top that let her figure shine. He hair was attached into a tight bun. The headpiece was white, sadly she just had one headpiece without expensive gems, but wearing the hair open started getting uncomfortable. She also wore a necklace; it was a cheap replica of a watertribe betrothal necklace – she was going to a drinking party so one could never know! Korra was fired up and felt a growing uneasiness at once. What if something went wrong and the press started hunting her? What if she just behaved idiotic? I had been far too long since she attended a party, not something pompous like Varricks wedding. The other´s didn´t know a thing about the plans for her evening. She had visited Asami today but her friend had seemed off. She was tearing up the whole mansion, for no reason in particular she told -but Korra knew there always was a reason behind the things Asami did.

Nevertheless, she had seemed lighter, but there still was pressure on her shoulders. Pressure Korra would have loved to share. Mako had visited her, something that also caught her totally off guard. She had expected that the firebender was too occupied with his job, or his injured arm to spend time much time with them. Furthermore, everyone knew that he avoided Asami whenever he could. Also her best friend was not much devoted to changing that fact! The Avatar rose her chin. She really was looking good. It was a miracle what makeup could make out of people – why Asami wore it every day she could not begin to fathom. The stuff itched on her skin and she was playing with the thought of destroying half an hour of work. Korra walked out of the bath, her blue leather boots on her feet. Bumi had insisted on meeting her at the temple of Sousanoo of all places. And of course Bumi was late, and heavens even she herself was already late! Why had she agreed to this? Right because she was an idiot – she just should have stayed in her room and read a good novel, the adventures of Kusanagi would have been a much better company than an old wooden statue. Korra waited and finally Bumi hurried towards her, he was wearing traditional earth nation robes that made him look – attractive. No way in hell I´m thinking that, Korra blinked but the fact remained. "Whoa. Is that you Korra?" Bumi blurted loudly.

"Damn – you´re definitely draggin some guys into your cushions tonight!" he beamed twinkling. The young woman was not really sure what she should respond. Of course she had fantasies, but she definitely would not do such things. She wasn´t a slut or something. "ok, ok I got it you´re not interested in the hot biz – damn shame that is kid!" he responded "I for my part am totally going aaaal ouutt!" he jelled while grabbing the avatars hand and dragging her forward. "Here Korra, ya goin to need some good ol cactus juice before we start." He grinned and took a swig of a small bottle he was carrying. Korra had never drunken cactus juice before, it was an illegal drug and furthermore it was said to be very sour. But…she hated being proper all the time, and maybe that was it, besides her general nosiness, that made her take the bottle. The liquid was thick and tasted very sour – but somehow pleasant. "Heey." Bumi tore the bottle out of her hands and the Avatar pouted. "You want to get all high before we even START the party? GEEZ kid, you´ve got much to learn, but don´t worry – Bumi and good ol Cap will show ya how to do it!" he piped and grumbled "Already half empty!" Korra giggled incoherently at this comment, the cactus juice already was kicking in, or was she imaging this fuzzy heat that was searing through her body? "Let's go! Where are we even going Bumi?" the young woman asked, while the contently smiling nomad followed her.

"On the docks of course, like in ma prime. I guess we´ll start at the dipsy daisy. That´s a bar where Ping´s livin above. Damn straight pal for a copper!" they were almost on the peer as they noticed the white lotus guardians that were posted there. They were guarding air temple island and checked the visitors. Councilman Tenzin had many enemies after all, once an assassin had tried to smuggle herself in, clad as an air acolyte girl. "Psst." Korra shushed. Bumi was grinning. The avatar flowed through gracious motions while the earth slowly rose around the feet of the guardians, as the circles had reached the knees of the guards she solidified them. Bumi was moving. Two fingers extended he struck, hissing air blasts knocking out the guards. "Take that nosy control-freaks!" he yipped and hurried into a boat. Korra thought this to an awesome idea and followed him. She then propelled the boat off with much vigour. The waters were singing to her as she turned her arms with a maniacal smile washing over her face. "Help- Korra, the boat will topple!" Bumi yelled whil frantically clinging to the bench he was sitting on, as the prow rose into the darkening sky. "Don´t be a sissy girl bumi!" Korra cheered and flung her arms even faster while the boat moved so fast it jumped over the flapping waves, a foaming stream following them. In the last possible moment she avoided crashing with a fishing trawler that was leaving the harbor. The sailors yelled and cursed but Korra just shouted a heartfelt.

"Fuck you assholes!" into the heavens, while Bumi was cackling like mad! When they finally pushed their boat between towed fishing boats Bumi looked deathly pale and staggered onto the wooden peer. "The ever glowin ass of tui – that´s how to ride a boat Korra!" he responded. "Wretching time.!" He excused himself and skillfully wretched into a neighboring boat. "Bumi – if the wardens see us?" Korra asked, not feeling embarrassed at all. It took a minute until Bumi had cleaned is face, his clothes were unstained. "See- years of practice. Blergh..need some beer to lose the uggly taste!" he responded. Beer sounded like a brilliant idea to Korra, she suddenly felt really thirsty. "Oh yeah – is there some decent music?" she asked. Bumi wiggled his eyebrows. "Red Emeralds are playing, if you wanna dance good ol Ping is yer man. The guy does everythin even the friggin rappati-tsungu, no idea how an earthbender manages this cursed hella footwork!" he responded blabbering. The docks were getting lively, laughter and music were heard everywhere. Korra and Bumi left the whorehouses to their right and headed into the republic bar scene. There of course also were many young ladies dressed in rather obvious ways, but Bumi was not paying them much notice. Even he knew how to behave if he had a lady with him, or he really was not interested, Korra had no idea what the truth was. "Eh look Chu isn´t that the Avatar?" somebody asked. "Pff -as if that bitch looked hot!" another sailor responded. Even if Korra felt the urge to put some earthpillars in their bellies she let it slide – she wanted to have some fun tonight! Yes, it had been worth the effort to go with Bumi. The lampions that illuminated some of the bars looked beautifully bright, also the night was pleasantly warm, which lead to couples smooching around in every dark corner they could find.

For Korra this still was an exciting thing, she hadn´t gone abroad like this for some years. "That´s gonna be a great night!" she smiled looking up into the starlit sky. The older man besides her smiled content, his eyes were brimming with joy, displaying an understanding that belied his frivolous behavior. Korra spotted a sign titled "the dipsy daisy" in front of a cellar entry. The sign was small and looked hastily fastened. She pulled Bumi close whispering in his ear. "Is that a – a black bar?" she was feeling like a bad girl, which felt awesome. Bumi chuckled. "Eh Korra – we go party – course it´s a black one." He smiled and kicked against the shutters two times. Than he opened them. "Come on in Korra. Just there ya can taste the true moonshine" He smiled clicking his tongue and expertly jumped down the worn looking stairs. Korra followed, it was smelling like tobacco and alcohol – and something else. At the foot of the stairs two imposing figures, clad in heavy makeshift leather armors were towering grimly. The men had cuts across their faces and were tattooed heavily. They both were holding shock batons casually. Korras eyes bulged – these weapons were military grade! Where did these guys get them? "N evenin – the gal´s with me buds." He nodded into Korras direction. The bouncers were eying her, for a second there could be seen fear in their eyes. The smaller man grinded his teeth and flexed his fists, the joints popping in place. "Aye – I´ll give ya that, since ya´re a regular." He growled. Korra smiled widely passed the men an playfully waved her backside around. She looked at the starting doormen, the mighty Avatar blow a raspberry.

She turned looking at a slightly frowning Bumi. "Do you wanna get laid tonight Korra? For if you want I´ll keep my mouth zipped." He responded earnest. The Avatar blushed furiously, to talk about something like that in public? Even the lone thought should be shameful, but it also was tempting, she nibbled on her bottom lip unconsciously, until she snapped out of it. Korra slapped Bumi playfully. "Aww come on old man, you can do better! Really?" she shook her hair. Bumi chuckled deeply. "You shouldn´t have said that kiddo – Lau Mi would devour you." Korra was looking at the older man blinking. "Isn´t she some kind of girlfriend of yours? Why´d you animate me – with her? That´d be sodomy, Bumi!" Korra couldn´t follow his train of thoughts, nevertheless she felt a slight wave of heat washing through her body, she felt so bubbly she wanted to start dancing at once. Or do something much more intimate than dancing -luckily Mako was not here. Geez girl, you really haven´t been at it for too long, if a bit of perverted Bumi has that effect on you, she thought. She should get herself a calming rootbeer, a BIG calming rootbeer, otherwise this evening would stain her name as the Avatar permanently. But wasn´t her lone presence here staining her name – and if a name was stained already, why even care anymore? Bumi yelled "ORRAAAAAAAA!" then he leaned backwards while another, grizzly haired man rose from his chair, also bellowing something incomprehensible.

Korra yipped as the old men slammed their heads together, there was a loud thudding sound she just knew from widderlopes. The foreign man was stumbling backwards and fell onto his chair. Korra looked elsewhere, just to discover that a lot of guys were blurting nonsense ore carelessly blundering across the dance floor, while waving around spacious mugs. Other people were almost undressing themselves, while kissing and grabbing at each other like they were in a bedroom. No – she really shouldn´t look there or her legs would get bubbly and horny. "Fuck you Boomer, how on earth can a friggin leavesblower take me head on!" the man roared slightly drunk. The other guy was rubbing his head, while a much younger, obviously drunken woman enthusiastically took care of his forming bruise. To be precise she was kissing his forehead. "Ahhh Hori, that´s the spot." He sighed content. "Cause I´m fucking high you idiot!" Bumi roared and seated himself on the table. Korra eyed the scenery. There was a middle aged woman of colorfully mixed origin. Dark skin, amber eyes and sandy brown hair that was fumbled into two adorable buns. She was heavily inked with a lot of adorable spirits, animals and -other things Korra had never seen. "Hey what a chillipepper you´ve brought here Hun." She asked Bumi while seizing the Avatar up with burning eyes. Korra smiled flattered, why the hell was she smiling? She totally felt like playing with this old hag, she definitely would come out on top! So she blinked towards Lau Mi and responded with a slightly purring tone.

"I´m Korra Ma´am. I guess you´re the tattoo chick ol Bumi is drooling about." She smirked and took a seat opposed to Lau Mi and Bumi. There were some other guys Bumi waved at cheerfully, then he started kissing his ladylove in a rather strange way. Their lips weren´t even touching, while their tongues were all over each other. Korra thought it looked rather hot, she definitely wanted to try this sometimes. "Jep – that´s a rather strange way to do it." A grumpy voice stated next to her. She turned her head left to look into the grey eyes of a short, stocky built man. The guy looked somehow familiar, her was dragging on a small clay pipe, while his mug was rather small. He wore his black hair combed into a topknot, a short goatee under his chin. Korra wondered, his face – she must have seen it somewhere before. "Have we met before?" she asked, not noticing that she almost was touching the man's cheek with her nose. He smelled, nice – flowery, with a hint of musk – but light. Damn, she had smelled something similar before. The man smiled wryly.

"No we haven´t Korra – not in this life at least. Lee´s the name." he responded while gripping her hand with a dry, strong palm. "Bumi had not noticed the man it seemed. The small guy smiled fiercer. "Hoy Boomer, you´ve decided to ignore me and suckle some tongues?" He barked loudly. Bumi turned his hand. "Shut up womenless fucktar…. The fuck, there´s Lee – ey Ping, Ping is lee really there? Damn I need a gulp. Lau Mi – look is there really a short guy with a creepy goatee?" He yelled frantic and pulled out his cactus juice taking a deep gulp. "You haven´t told him asshole Hungshu, have you!" the man growled angrily, slamming his fist onto the table. "You´ve said you would – Bastard." He muttered slightly slurred. "Hey man – we didn´t meet up. Think ol Ping´s a match against quality time with that burner?" Ping flinched and pointed at Lau Mi. Bumi was staring at the small man. "Holy fuck man – and I thought I was the craziest of us all. That- that guy´s just sitting there like it was yesterday!" he blurted. "Dang it Lee – even…oh I didn´t write home, too…anyways, you could´ve written a letter!" Bumi stated, while Lau Mi was whispering something into his ear. Bumi seemed a bit hurt, angered, disturbed – Korra could not name the feeling that was lurking behind his playful banter. She was wondering, obviously this Lee was an old friend of Bumi and his grizzly haired friend. "Yeah…chrmm..I guess that topic would ruin the mood Boomer, how about you´re my treat tonight?" the other man responded in a much softer voice.

Bumi was wiping an imaginary tear out of his eye. "Ohhh finally my everlasting love." He squeaked, while Lau Mi was crinkling her nose, Korra could just stare at her small knobby nose. The other man took a swig of his mug. "You´d like that kinda sodomy shit huh?" he responded shivering at an unpleasant thought. "Damned woman of mine." He muttered under his breath, while hiccupping. That´s gonna get interesting, Korra thought while suddenly a mug had appeared in front of her, she drank it. He throat was dry, no matter how much she drank. The alcohol started blurring her sight further, while the music started getting louder. The others wanted to hear Lee´s sodomy story, while the short man just stayed silent and ignored the insults hurled at him. Instead he pulled out a package of cards, he started mixing expertly. "Who´s the king of the four corners – I´ll challenge you Hungshu Ping!" he cheered. "Bring it shorty. But you´ll have to face the Queen of corners too!" the young woman was seating herself on the old man´s lap. Korra found it rather bemusing, to see somebody hang out with people twice her age – oh wasn´t she doing that? No luckily not - Lee couldn´t be much more than fifteen years her senior. "In that case I´ll take over the queen part with here – hand some cards!" she blurted enthusiastically and giddily grabbed the cards "No – I´m going to play alone -as the lone wolf of the raging seas! HUZZAH!" Bumi rambled dramatically, while Lau Mi rose and bit him into the ear. "ARRRR Mr. Pirate." She ruffled his hair and trailed off, not without being slapped on the butt of course. "An artform…" Korra snickered, giggling about her own joke. "Five cards stand the Line." Lee announced while neatly fanning his own hand.

Korra looked at the pile of cards, she had no idea how to play corners. Korra was fumbling with the cards sluggishly, she almost never played cards also her fingers felt tingly. There was a silky chuckle as Lau Mi leaned over, her powdered breasts resting on Korras neckline. She was fully aware of the soft touch and the musky, earthen scent of the older woman. "Oww darling, I´ll show you how do to it properly." She purred, Korra had the feeling Lau Mi was not talking about playing cards, a part of her hoped she didn´t talk about playing cards. "Y-yeah. That would be nice." She responded looking up flustered. Lau Mi was licking her lips predatory while Bumi watched the scene with sparkling eyes. "Lee- c´mon make it seven ya prissy!" Ping gnarled. "I call out the the golden lotus." The older man responded smirking. "Not the stumbling boar?" Hori wiggled her eyebrows. "Hmm…actually that IS a brilliant idea Hori." Ping stated while sniffling her hair. Lau Mi was rearranging the cards in Korras hands, the young woman had no idea what the tattoo artist did. "That´s looking good Korra dear." She hummed while she started whispering in her ear. Korra had never done something like this with Mako, not in Public – also Mako wasn´t a woman!

A woman who was eyed by her lover who – seemed to appreciate her flirting with another girl. Actually Bumi was looking rather manly, she started at the cards while she tried to make sense of the symbols written on them. "Another round girl´s – go go old Ping´s thirsty!" the cop waved his mug around. "You know, these three are the ladies." She whispered in Korra´s ear. "Red, emerald, blue and black are the colors. And like in the real world the ladies spread pleasure." Lau Mi was almost touching her ear, if that woman kept it going Korra really would start feeling really wuzzy and that was not a good thing. She took a deep gulp out of her slightly sour tasting mug, wasn´t that cactus juice? Anyways. "Ok – I got that Lau Mi." she responded slightly slurred. The older woman. "You know, these cards are colors, if you combine them to form Lands that can be combined with the five cards in the middle. Lands border on each other when their numbers match and when they are played the player gets one soldier per general on his hand. Also Ladies can charm- an enemy card, if it´s not a land or a tower. Dragons also can´t be charmed." Lau Mi blabbered on and on but Korra could not follow her anymore, there were too much things flooding her mind. She was seeing purple circles happily dancing across her vision.

As the game started Lau Mi was playing and Korra just giggled as the other womans cheek rubbed against hers. "Take that Bumi – you´re general is enchanted by our beauty!" Lau Mi bickered while playing a lady next to his general. "Measly traitor! You should be roasted on a stake!" Bumi hissed at the card. In the meantime, the Musik was blasting, horns blowing loudly, singers yelling and drums booming. Korra actually won this round, Lau Mi placing a kiss on her cheek as a reward, she frowned but did not feel the need to say anything else. The played some other rounds of corners, Korra danced with Lee, and lateron with some strange guys she did not know. It was nice, as she was sweaty and exhausted she lastly returned towards the table. The orthers already were playing cornerns again, but it seemed just Ping Hori and Lee actually managed to play corners, they quickly were assaulting Bumi with Horsemen and dragons, while Lau Mis Lands were taken by soldiers, building fortresses. Also Lee burned his lands to keep up his the golden lotus that made his soldiers immortal in front of Bumis firedragons. That was what Korra understood but the game actually was much more complicated. Suddenly the young woman was electrified as something soft and wet touched the corner of her mouth, it felt pleasant and suddenly Korra was tasting a slight nuance a bitterness combined with a unique flavor she hadn´t tasted before, while Ping and Bumi were cheering her on like madmen!

Hori was frowning and slapped Ping on the backside of his head rather forcefully, while Lee was downing his mug. Lau Mis hands were softly kneading her breasts, the nipples turning sensitive, the avatar wanted more and she went at the older woman wildly. Which led to Lee rising from his seat and walking over to Ping and Bumi. He was talking with the two men, Ping just nodded. Slowly people had started staring at Korra, who was almost wiggling herself out of her top– the older woman barely managed to hold the shoulder straps on the Avatars shoulders. Korra did of course notice nothing of it, the only thing she noticed was that her knees started feeling slightly wobbly and she was moistening up downstairs. It was then a deep, raspy voice grumbled in her ear "Let´s take this upstairs Miss Avatar." She barely recognized the voice as Bumi´s, who was nibbling at her earlobe. A slight moan left the Avatars flushed face as the couple dragged her from the chair and led her upstairs. She was enjoying the closeness she shared with these people, doing something absolutely forbidden and taboo. The lone thought drove the last remnants of social etiquette out of her fuzzy head, while she was lead through a buzzing kitchen, and later on upstairs. Nimble fingers were already playing between her legs while Bumi was keeping her from stumbling, while somebody was making strange noises. Korra didn´t notice she was the source of these lust filled moans, while feeling extatic. She noticed something wet spilling between her legs as she twitched violently, far away from any clear thought.

Authors note: Actually that was a chapter I was rather uneasy about, I would like some comments about it. Korra in my opinion is a impulsive outgoing person, and in this case totally drugged. Also everybody who wears much responsibility on his back wants to get him self wasted sometimes - at least when he´s in his early twenties...and getting wasted teaches strange things about ones true nature xD. Concerning Bumi...well I just picture him as the crazier version of Oscar Wilde - who of course picks op the weirdest women of whole Repubic. Sex drugs n rockn roll, would totally be his and Lau Mi´s motto, of course you can´t bring such a thing in a childrens show but as I stated before AVATAR STORYLINES NEVER WERE MEANT FOR THAT - hence we have all these Fanfics! And with this I wish you a good night!


	11. Revelation of Terror

**Chapter 11: Revelation of terror**

Sokka finally had found her big opportunity. She scrubbed her Fingers that were speckled with cooling paste, she had burned herself again with the blowtorch, a piece of lead, her father was calling this stuff a eutectic zinc-lead alloy, had almost burned itself through her fingernail. It still was hurting but compared to what she was facing tonight that would not be much hurt at all. She had listened to the blurting of some male coworkers and found out that it was time for the start of the "Republic all school´s night" which was an event of the martial arts association which had formed in the city over the years. While it still was just a regional event and the participating people mostly were amateurs, the event was heralded to be the smithy in which future pro´s were tempered. Sokka was bubbly thinking about seeing legends like Tigerslayer Souji, Barnook of Tjernar or Hiroshi Andao the grandson of the legendary Pi Andao. But seeing celebrities was not what made the "Republic all school´s night" so special and unique. It was the fact that you actually could fight them if you wanted.

At least that was what her colleagues told her, even the famous Councilman Sokka had been humiliatingly defeated by a mere bouncer for two years a row. The only thing Sokka didn´t like was the fact that the "all school´s night" was a weaponless event and Sokka loathed fighting men barehanded. The guys mostly were easily twenty stone heavier than herself, which always led to her being disadvantaged. Of course there were no weight classes in the all school´s night but the only non-heavyweight fighter that ever won the event had been Cuo Feng, a travelling monk from Shao-Lin in Chu Da, who had walked the path of a warrior-monk since his birth. Of course there would be a lot of police, most likely because the event otherwise would have escalated into a legal gang massacre where triad enforcers killed each other over enormous sums of money. Of course Sokka was not wasting a thought about winning the thing, but she was sure that she would be able to make a name for herself in the preliminaries. It should be enough to be able to choose a good dojo where she would train for real. She always had the feeling her father had been going easy on her for all these years. She would have to spend her last yuans onto the ticket, so she definitely would be forced to stay with Korra, Kayar and the others for at least one more month.

Even if the orderly, chatting girls blocked the bathroom for inhumanly long times and tried to stick Sokka into pelt adorned robes, short dresses and other strange clothes on a weekly basis! The young woman dragged out the small tin box that contained her red inkpaste, she stopped. These people are rubbing off an me, definitely they are… Sokka Adachi placed the small item in her working bag. Then she left the bathroom in a heavy woolen Gi, it was a deep burgundy and most likely the last remnant of the Adachi style – as her mother braggingly had titled their dojo. Her father had been less enthusiastic about his profession as a dojo master. "Sokka…you´re…where…going…. with clothing strange?" Korra asked while fumbling around with copper pots. The girl was cooking some kind of fish-stew; she had drawn the shortest straw tonight. "I´m heading out for the all school´s night!" she responded smiling brightly. Kayar was working the night shift this week, so she hadn´t to explain anybody where she was going, which most likely was a good thing. Otherwise she would have defeated five furious opponents before she even left the shabby house!

Nevertheless, Sokka hurried out of the flat, the precious half a yuan slip of paper in her hands. Instead of crouching through dark alleys she directly headed into the spirit vines. He Qui was brimming as she felt stronger than anywhere else. There were strange animals screeching in the vines. Yellow eyes glowing. Furry tails whipping in the corners of her eyes. Also there were strange floating – pines? No that weren´t really pines, Sokka decided to not notice the strange spirits that were residing here. The less she did the more likely she just was ignored. Indeed, she made it through the whole forest without being attacked. Sokka sighed contently and headed in the direction of the Watertribe culture center, which was the initiator of the all school´s night. In the wide parks the rings were erected, soon there were many people wearing gears more or less similar to her. Even if the most of them just came to cheer on their Masters it still was an atmosphere that made Sokka´s spirit soar. She could see the banners advertising the event in the streets. Street arabs hat set up their self-made stalls and offered everything you didn´t need for a fulfilled life. Sokka was way to exited to pay them any attention, but many other people did.

Finally, she arrived at the wooden enclosure of the watertribe cultural center, which looked rather impressive. She would definitely visit it some time, but for today she had much more important business. She had eaten an hour before, warmed herself up by walking fast, if stretching had not been rather embarrassing in front of all these people she definitely would have done it. It was so – FULL – the young woman almost felt threatened by the sheer mass of people trampling around on the still wet cobblestones. Finally, she arrived at the gates where a whole of ten metalbending cops were stationed. Inside the Park most likely would be many more officers Sokka mused. "Eh the hell is a chick like you doin here?" a man asked her – nope – a boy asked her. Just because the dude had a gruffly beard and was half a head taller than herself he wasn´t old! His face looked like sixteen. "Havin fun man? Y´know I´m searchin for a dojo so where better to look huh?" she smirked. The boy laughed.

"N what´s your boyfriend saying to this?" he asked her. Seriously, what kind of nosy retard was this kid? The young woman's eyes were twitching. "If my boyfriend would tell me what to do I´d kick his ass outta my room. And who the fuck has taught you manners? A deaf hippo-cow? Introduce yourself for Koh´s sake!" she rambled. The tall dude was blinking as if she was some kind of strange spirit. "You´re getting it as usual Hiroshi. What did I always tell you…we´ll never understand womankind." Another boy stated silently. He was smaller, and way less barrel chested. Hiroshi frowned and slapped the guy's head. "Oww…resorting to violence will not chance facts, just for the protocol – I´m wondering why I´m even here!" the boy grumbled rubbing his head. He looked cute, different from Hiroshi, who could have easily hired as a bouncer. "Eh, Hiroshi – how bout a challenge, you´n me!" Sokka piped up. Beating the crap out of a tall guy always looked good, especially if you were a girl. Well some conservative idiots of course thought differently but that was another story!

Hiroshi was smiled and responded huskily. "Well I can imagine a good fight with the two of us." Her swung his arm to rest it around Sokkas shoulders, while the other guy turned his head away. His arm was muscular and heavy, also he was stinking after some kind of cheap perfume, Sokka gripped his index finger ducked and twisted his hand, the knuckles were knacking. "In yer dreams Hiroshi – I´m talking about a fight, not about sloppy things – got that?" she responded while the guy was kneading his middle finger grimacing in pain. "You wanna get slammed, hell I´ll totally slam you bitch!" he growled, while some other guys started laughing at him. The interesting boy already had disappeared in the crowd, Sokka Adachi considered it a shame. She smirked "Any time buddy, any time." Sokka huffed her chest, the people were staring, she was annoyed and worked up. "The fuck you´re staring at? Gods, I´ve got some fights to attend." She huffed and walked up to the crowd. Almost everybody was taller than she but that did not intimidate Sokka the least. She gently tapped the side of some middle aged man. "Move aside pal?" she asked as sweet as possible, Sokka Adachi wasn´t very subtle. "Uh…hm yeah. Of course." He responded caught slightly off guard. The young woman passed the man, the people had started blabbering.

"Damn….that was a hot bitch, bro." "What the fuck is wrong with women today?" "What was this even about!" "No Meiji, that´s not what martial arts is about, it´s about respect." Sokka tilted her head. Damn hot she was! She decided to ignore the rest of the comments. After squeezing herself though tons of mostly well nurtured citizens she finally arrived at one of the five challenger rings. She walked up to the officer who was seated behind a wooden desk in the only area that was not that crowded – the registering area. Sokka scanned it discretely. The most of the guys standing in line were, big, some of them were kissing girls and boasting their strength in slightly drunken stupor but what worried Sokka were five guys clad in white gi´s. There stood Kaburage written over their backs – the kaburage followed an old karate style that was basically refined brawling! Sokka sighed, most likely the other rings would not look better, heck if she wanted to earn the golden fan guys like these weren´t allowed to pose a challenge at all. Sokka stood in queue. Another man lined in behind. She was not noticed at first, because many of the fighters were chatting with their wife´s girlfriends or other people. She had almost reached the desk as a guy tumbled into her. "Ey take care man." She rambled. The man turned. He wore a green Gi with some strange pelt ornaments. "Of course I´m taking care. And what are you doing here anyways? Just stand outside the line like all the other girls do, what´s so difficult about that?" he sighed slightly annoyed. "It´s bad enough everybody here treats a tournament like some barbecue!" he griped.

"I´m standing in the queue because I´m waiting so I´m the only girl here that has a right to stand here – in honor of your strange protocol" she deadpanned. The guy stared at her disbelieving. "The republic all school´s night isn´t some girl cuddling entertainment party, you´ll just get beaten to a pulp!" he blurted. "He, who´ll get fucked up!" some other guys turned and again Sokka Adachi was the center of public attention. "A GIRL – I should fight a GIRL? There must be a rule against this officer!" a poorly dressed guy slurred. What had her father told her – right, kill this kind of fuckers! "Hey fuckwad – this GIRL is hearing you. How bout we discuss who the lil girly is – Huh?" She responded. "Are you…scared?" she taunted the guy. Most of the other fighters also seemed rather uneasy about a woman entering their rows, while some of them were obviously eager to teach Sokka some "respect" the most just were confused. Sokka had to admit that she herself would also have mixed feelings if she should fight a child – and to most men women were like children – something they had to protect.

Nevertheless, Sokka Adachi would not want any man to hold back on her, she was here to fight and of course she expected the same from her opponents. The man was sputtering. "Ha – I – afraid from a lil bitch like you? Know you place woman or I´ll decide to show it to you!" he rambled. Some guys started laughing, some blew in the same horn. "What kind of honorless scum would fight a woman!" the guy in green fumed, while Sokka frowned. She wanted that dude in front of her knuckles, even more than the assholes who hurled insults! "Eh frogman, I don´t need your protection, got that!" she snarled staring at him. The man was most likely some years older than she herself. He looked rather good, if one ignored the crooked nose and two missing teeth. His green eyes seemed cold, like this super expensive jade from Gao Ling. He was staring at Sokka intently, her heart sped up as she fought a blush. The guy gulped and scratches his stubbly beard. "B-But it´s wrong!" he responded with the sincerity of an adorable five year old. "Don´t be ridiculous – I´m fighting here because I want it, otherwise I wouldn´t be here! Spirits, if a girl can drink sake she also can handle a straight right." Sokka griped strode up and stared at the officer. The elderly man sighed and shoved over the paper. "Papers." He responded, Sokka handed him her identity card. He looked over the greyish piece of paper and stuffed it into a box along with the other fighter's cards. The ring looked empty and clean. Sokka left the area and took a closer look. Different from her homely ring this one was square, also it had side guards consisting out of tough looking ropes.

It looked more spacious, but you had to be very careful because it was easily possible to be cornered. Sokka pulled out two long pieces of black cloth. She skillfully started bandaging her hands. The man in green of course already wore bandages! He was clenching his right hand nervously. The drunkards of course were already sitting in front of the ring and rambled. They wanted to fight and not wait for more contestants to register. Since a crowd had gathered around the ring Sokka supposed the opening ceremony would not last long any more. She also suspected this because a group of ten men jumped the queue. They wore gi´s or loincloths. Damn this, what were Sumo guy´s doing here? Was this even a martial art? The Sumo dudes were monsters, easily twice Sokka´s weight. How should you beat something like THAT up? Some of the drunkards seemed to think different. "Eh look at those fatsos." One of the giggled. "Eh pops – you´re still shitting your diapers?" they mocked. There were muscles tensing beyond the fat – monstrous muscles as Sokka observed gulping. The guy in green was talking with some other guys or more likely, they were talking with him despite he did not want to. It seemed he was some kind of celebrity. Sokka did not give a fuck about this though – the all school´s night taught that there were no celebrities in the ring. Then three metalbending cops positioned themselves in front of the ring, while the traditionally clad referee climbed over the ropes.

He started chanting in the wet language and splashed some water and salt across the ring. It looked rather spiritual to Sokka, who smiled content. Soon it would begin, she would make a name in this city! Then he changed back into plain Guang Zhu. "Now the spirits a pleased and may watch upon the warriors who face each other as a sign of friendship I will announce the first match." The man reached for the iron pot and drew two names. Sokkas heart was pounding. "Isiko Hakawa against Arrrlaq son of Yurrik." The man announced. Sokka was disappointed as one of the Kaburage guys got up and climbed into the ring. He looked rather cocky. His opponent was wearing a bluish gear and looked rather hesitant. It was obvious he did not want to fight his first opponent but nevertheless he climbed into the ring. "Remember the rules worthy fighters, biting and killing techniques are forbidden. The one who taps out has lost." He stated the rules and then blew into a horn which was skillfully carved out of a yak horn. The Karburage fighter approached, left hand palm extended, right hand balled a fist. The other guy fell into a fluid kick-boxing stance and was dancing in the ring while the other guy methodically closed the distance. The Audience started placing bets, almost everybody was going for the Kaburage fighter. "Come at me like a man!" the man in white yelled, while the blue clad guy threw a fit of faints and kept out of range barely. He was dodging expertly, also his low kicks were well executed, but the sturdy legs of a Kaburage Fighter easily could take things like this. In Kaburage your legs were beaten with watered sticks day in day out, even Sokka knew that. "Arrlaq son of Yurrk, stop evading the fight please." The referee responded and the audience started cheering.

That was bad news – they were really into this close quarter bullshit. Sokka bit her bottom lip – and she had hoped to wear those sumo guys out by simply running away from them until she stood a chance. While she was lost in thoughts she heard a clashing sound from the ring. Arrlaq son of Yurrik was cramping the leg of his opponent with a pained grimace. The Karateka struck with his right, there was the knocking stone of a fist meeting stone, but his opponent broke his stance. The both men were on the floor. The Kaburage fighter turned with his leg still locked, and started sitting atop his opponent who yelled in Pain as his broken ribs were squeezed. The man in white rose his hand for another powerful blow on the boxers back, but the boxer tapped. The fighter rose and bowed formally. "My pleasure." He responded in nidhongo, while his opponent tried to get back on his feet whimpering. The audience wasn´t really thrilled about the fight. Arrlay son of Yurrik stumbled out of the ring with a bleeding forehead and broken ribs. "See, that is a real fight. Do you really want to ruin your pretty face like that? For what – guy´s won't even like you if you behave like this." This annoying frog. Sokka turned cocking an eyebrow. "And what´s your role in this play – the prince who saves the damsel in distress?" she mocked the man, whose cheeks were coloring slightly. "And by the way – that´s a Kaburage fighter. You just don´t try boxing against those guys, it´s like beating rocks!" she snorted. The man smiled. "I could take down anyone of these small fries. I´m of the southern sword´s academy." He stated dryly.

Sokka almost dropped her jaw. THE southern sword´s academy? Like in - the heir´s of Pi Andao? "Th-THE academy?" she responded almost drooling, she would kill to enter this school. He chuckled. "Indeed. You´re not so different from other girls it seems." He stated. Sokka frowned but chugged down a snarky response – she would not start bickering with a stranger. There were three other fights which were more entertaining. Two Kaburage guys beat the shit out of each other until they were bleeding like cow swine and one simply threw the other one outside the ring. His opponent did not yield but challenge him again, so that the members of their own school had to separate the snarling men from each other. Also there were two of the street kids who yelled more at each other than anything else. The people were laughing themselves silly, including Sokka. The only one's griping were the referee and frogman. Then suddenly Sokkas name was called. She straightened herself and walked up to the ring. There was a sound whistling through the audience. Sokka breathed and looked at her opponent, the man was huge. "You´re crazy!" frog man yelled and then flushed a bright red as the crowd stared on him. Sokka entered the ring, easily slipping through the ropes. Her opponent was a thug incarnate. He wore a rugged tank top along with wide, puffy trousers. His arms were covered in tattoos and he was smiling devilish. He was licking his lips.

"Damn that´ll be just like a day on work." He spit in his palms. Sokka´s blood was boiling already. There was the beginning sound of the tsungi horn. Her opponent just charged her obviously confident in his superior muscle. Sokka stood there almost casually, her muscles were tensing. She would end this with one assault, the man was wiry but nothing close too muscular. Screaming he pulled back his arm, she was rather sure that was a faint. She lifted her foot and turned her upper body while delivering the hardest sidekick she could manage. There was a booming sound and a heavy impact, that made Sokka fall. It did not hurt; her opponent was on top of her gasping for air. Sokka grabbed his long hair and head-butted him. He jelled as Sokka punched his temples forcefully. The hits shook her bones. The man was dizzily groping for her face, she easily gripped a finger and bowed him back. The man screamed and tapped before he could stop himself. "And Sokka Adachi takes victory." The referee declared. Sokka had wiggled herself free and rose as the panting man grabbed her Gi. "We´re not finished bitch – whores like you…" he yelled and landed a straight hit in her belly as the audience started booing. Sharp Pain exploded in her stomach, Sokka snarled as she tensed her muscles and packed another Punch, she lifted her right leg across the man´s outstretched hand that was gripping her sash. Then she lowered herself while pulling the forearm upward with al her might. The man screamed like a stabbed boar as she broke his arm . She let go panting. "Shut the fuck up asshole. Go cry like the prissy ya are!" she yelled and fought the urge to kick him in the ribs. The referee, who was a rather sturdy teacher of the sword´s academy grabbed the thug and threw him out of the ring.

"Get lost you scoundrel – and if we ever see you again on our grounds we´ll not show restraint against a brute like you! The thug was laying on his back, crying and wheezing. Sokka frowned. Why the hell could this fucktard not show some restraint! "Sokka Adachi emerges as victor. Please leave the ring my Lady." He responded nodding courtly. Sokka left the ring, damn it her Abs were hurting – this asshole had landed quite the punch. But she had to expect being injured of course. Frogman nevertheless was eying her like a floating badgermole as she walked down the stairs of the ring and returned towards the fighter's area. Even the Kaburage guys were looking at her. They still were swaggering but they actually had noticed her, which was quite something. " Shall I call the nurse for you?" the green clad idiot asked again. "No." Sokka responded dryly. Nurse – she had brawled worse as a child. "You´re sure. It´s very dangerous for women to be beaten in the belly!" he stated gravely. "Gods damn it – you´re not my father!" Sokka snarled. "I guess Horija has the hots for you girlie." One of the hulking Sumo fighters responded. Horija seemed to take this personal.

"The fuck – I´m behaving like a gentleman Ho-Shin and nothing more!" He growled staring up at the massive man who was eying him with a challenging frown. "keep your anger until we face each other in the ring." He chuckled fiercely. "And your father definitely would be worrying more about you ruining your health and being unable to bear children." Frogman added hurt. Sokka snorted "Geez – my father taught me how to fight in the first place, dork!" While Sokka enjoyed bantering with the green clad idiot and the wrestler. "See, that´s the spirit." He responded dryly while frogman was close to exploding. "How can a man beat his own daughter!" her fumed, Sokka was giggling incoherently. Where under the sun did people like this guy exist – he behaved like he sprung out of an adventure novel! The wrestler was also chuckling, his belly wobbling amused. That fatso was quite the guy Sokka thought interested, he had humor and also he was quite the athlete, his arms and legs were bulging muscle, even if they were fat too.

"Ho Shin, against Hin-Shi-Mi, the orator spoke and the audience broke in hysterics. This Hi-Shi-Min guy was one of the Kaburage disciples and stormed into the ring while beating his chest like a gorilla goat. The wrestler shrugged. "I guess this is going to be – fun." He spoke grimly and made his way towards the ring. His face looked as if he was carrying the world on his shoulders. Sokka looked doubtfully, she had not heard many impressing things about sumo. Nevertheless this Ho Shin guy was giving off the vibes of a real fighter. The Kaburage fighter was standing tall right palm extended left fist ready to strike. Ho Shin crouched into some kind of horse stance. His fists touching the floor. Then the gong thundered and the clumsy, fat man shot forward like an avalanche. Sokka didn´t want to believe her eyes. The Kaburage fighter evaded with a hazy step but Ho Shin grabbed his sash and threw him onto the floor with an elegant circling movement of his arm. The other man kicked against his thighs with a smacking sound. He tried to rise but the wrestler simply smacked him against the head while he took a straight hit in his belly. A hit that would have sent Sokka to the floor for good. The guy did not even budge an inch. And instead started grappling with his smaller, nimbler opponent. The men were sweating as much as the people who watched them as sudden thunder struck twice.

There was blood spraying in the air and the fighters collapsed. "NOBODY MOVES!" a Man yelled. Sokka felt nothing, as her eyes flew wide and time seemed to stop. There was thunder ringing somewhere everywhere, her eyes were piping. She looked at a man holding strange weaponry. He held something that was not bigger than his arm and had nine rotating barrels, it looked like a miniature of these "cannons" the prawling tiger held. The people were yelling in panic. These things could rotate around a short spear with a glinting blade. The man moved expertly, Sokka heard a rough yell as the man walked up on the ring and took a piece of red chalk out of his pocked. He wrote. "Remember the squirreltoad" on the ring. Some of the fighters started running away, the man did not do anything. He simply turned and fired into the kneeling crowd where yells of pain erupted. The barrels were turning, Sokka yelled and threw herself on the ground, there were bleeding people and this monster looked like he was filling out forms at his office. The man spoke "Don´t oppose a god of war who has descended from the plains of Shan Gri La!" Sokka was blinking as the frogman charged at the guy yelling.

The man moved fast, his heavy weapon whizzing though the air. It impaled itself in the other man´s chest. He went down gargling, spitting blood out of his heaving chest. There was silence just one old man stood up. "Why- why are you doing this? We haven´t done anything." He responded with a trembling voice. The man slowly crossed the distance, he was on guard. "Because I´m sending a message." He stated. Then he cut the man's throat with a swift motion. Nobody dared to move, except Sokka who yelled in a fury she had never known before. She charged at this monstrosity she would rip apart. Her voice broke as she yelled "DIE!" again and again, while the winds started to roar in her ears. The man turned but was toppled by her first air blast. Sokka struck again and again, the hissing blasts meeting the man like invisible fists. He tried to defend himself but could do nothing but endure the bending of the young woman who slowly closed the distance. He suddenly hurled his weapon in her direction but Sokka ducked tumbling and the spear impaled itself in a woman's thigh behind her. She was screaming. The now defenseless man was assaulted by the thugs that had pissed their pants before.

They mercilessly kicked and punched the screaming man, who became silent shorty after. Nevertheless, the people started fleeing while everywhere was chaos. Sokka stood there frozen. People had died, she had seen them being brutally slaughtered. Nevertheless, she was feeling nothing – just the heart that was hammering in her chest like mad. She was trembling, her breath coming in shaggy. Sokka Adachi stood there and walked towards the man clad in green…the bravest man she had ever met. He wasn´t brave now, he was dying. Tears running out of his eyes while his face slowly turned blue. There was was blood coming out everywhere and Sokka just stood there without a clue. She felt genuinely helpless she couldn´t move. The man was muttering incomprehensible words. Sokka bowed town mechanically. She tried to calm him, pressed him on the ground, her hands damp from his blood. The man struggled at first, then he stopped moving. Sokka Adachi did not know that she was wiping a dead man´s face clean. Suddenly there was a cold hand on her Shoulder. She turned yelling and threw an elbow. There was a rattling sound as the armored woman went down. A hissing metal cable whipped through the air like a snake and tied Sokkas arms around her chest. "Calm dow.." the woman rose from the ground as Sokka exhaled and a torrent of air almost knocked the woman from her feet.

Than the air was knocked out of her lungs by a ball of earth that was bigger than her head. Sokka Adachi started sobbing, she did not want to die…she wanted home. The cable disappeared from her upper body. "K-killed the…the people…bammm…" she started crying again "Want to daddy." She whimpered rather childish. She felt somebody pat her head. "It´s ok kid. Worst is over now." A harsh voice spoke. The voice was brimming with pain, too. "I´ll bring you home. We´re cleaning up the…" the cops voice broke. "bodies. Those sick bastards. Why – why do you do something like that?" Sokka asked. She felt sad, frightened and furious at once. Why would humans commit such a crime? What was their gain? "I don´t know kid…I don´t know." The woman replied. Sokkas eyes had cleared again and she saw who had picked her up. She looked down onto the woman, who was around her father's height.

She was old and had a scarred face, her green eyes were hard as rock, as was the scowl that had settled on a face that once had been pretty. Sokka grit her teeth and wiped her puffy eyes. It was time to man up – she could cry enough when she was alone, or with her father. She should behave like an adult woman and keep her shit together! The woman suddenly stared at her with blinking eyes. "Do we know each other? I could swear I´ve seen you somewhere." She responded. Sokka straightened herself. "Nope, I take after my ma people say." She responded and strode in the direction she believed the exit of this cursed park was in. The cop followed her silently. "Where are you living?" she asked Sokka. The young woman blinked. Her head was empty. She furrowed her brows and tried to concentrate, to push away the part of her that wanted to curl up under a blanket an never leave it again. "I´m new in town – my father lives somewhere close to the dragonflats, yeah..Teung road." She responded as she remembered the name of his street. The cop furrowed her brows shortly, but then sighed. "Let´s go, I don´t got the whole day." She snarled. "I´m sorry…I…I… lost five…. Men… today." She responded, while her face was twitching. She forced a grim expression back on. Sokka gulped.

"I´m sorry Miss Officer." She responded. The woman snorted and walked on, neither of the two women felt like talking. There was a satomobile the officer seated herself in. Men in leather aprons an rubber gloves arrived. " Aye Chief." They saluted. Sokka blinked. "You´re Chief Bei Fong?" she responded slightly taken abhack. "Yes." Her subordinates responded. "Didn´t you know that – I´m more than famous enough." She stated in a tone that should have sounded snarky, it just sounded battered. The engine awoke with a blubbering sound after Chief bei Fong had opened the gasoline vent and propelled the small creak for the ignition. She started driving, it was the first time Sokka was riding a satomobile on a seat. She did not care for a shim, she just wanted to get home as fast as possible. "No – I´d always imagined you younger." Sokka responded absent. Whenever her father spoke of this woman – which was the case rather seldom – he called her Linny. Chief Bei Fong furrowed her brows. "WHO the FUCK are you kid!" she demanded to know and stopped the car in the middle of the street.

"You´ll answer me at once or we´ll going to have a talk at the headquarters." She threatened Sokka. The young woman rose her chin. "I´ve not killed this monstrosity – sadly I haven´t." she responded with clenched fists and burning eyes. "You can´t arrest me for nothing Chief Bei Fong. My name is Adachi Sokka, if you want to know." She responded. The Cops face dropped, she looked like a fish. "Heavens!" was the only thing she managed to say. Under different circumstances Sokka would have brimmed with self-satisfaction but so there was just exhaustion sitting in her body, exhaustion and a pressure she had never felt before. "So your parents have returned to republic city." She responded sighing. "Well – I´ll just drop you off – I know they might value their privacy." She responded formal. Sokka didn´t respond anything to that, she wanted to be alone with her father, at least for tonight. "don´t think my dad would mind if you visited some other day." She shrugged. The policewoman was gripping the steering wheel harshly. „I don´t think that´ll be a good idea. Lee drew a line 20 years ago so I´ll will not be the one who steps over it, if even Yumi doesn´t!" she responded determined.

Sokka blinked. What was she talking about, her mother was dead? Her parents lived in Lau An 20 years ago, she was not even born. "You lived in Lau an?" she asked quizzically. Lin Bei Fong just snorted. "No, of course not." She grumbled. "I don´t like this topic, if you want to walk home keep on bringing it up." She snarled, while her green eyes locked onto the street. Usually this would have been nothing but food for Sokkas defiant streak but today she was not interested in fights. So she just sat there as the car rumbled through the streets of Republic Citys outskirts. Chief Bei Fong looked strange as they arrived in front of the address. "Thank you!" Sokka made a short bow and then she opened the door, she heard the bubbling motor speed up again. Sokka rushed upstairs until she reached the wooden door of her father's flats, she hammered against the wood harshly. Nobody opened the door. So she sat down exhausted and stared into nothingness. She felt cold and tired but she feared closing her eyes because if she did she saw the blood again. The young woman shivered and tugged on her Gi´s revers. Where in the ninety-nine hells was her bloody father! Sokka Adachi blinked as a lone tear rolled down her chair and she tried to sob – but the sobs just wouldn´t come out. They were looming inside her body.

Authors note: I hope that was intense, and now we have a lead for the first time – right…So any theories about the story to come? I´m interested in your opinions people!


	12. The hidden truths

**Chapter 11: A hidden truth**

Asami had not slept well, if she had slept at all. The two weeks were gone and she had not even found a trace of project squirrel toad! She had searched everywhere; the last conclusion was that her father had hid the papers in his secret factory. And thus the papers were buried under hundred tons of hardened concrete, which meant lost forever. What terrified her most was the fact that Colonel Chun had not shown up to collect the documents. That could just mean he knew she did not have them, didn´t it? Asami listlessly sipped on her tea, she frowned as the steaming liquid burned her mouth. She had sent one of her gardeners carrying letters towards air temple island and police headquarters. Her friends should be warned, even though they would not be her friends anymore once they had read the letters. It was justice that she lost the blood stained trade empire her father had built, maybe being in jail would make the feeling of guilt go away. She stared at the chicken sow curry in front of her and blinked. The radio was playing the newest of price Wu´s songs. Suddenly the music stopped in the middle of the well-known tune.

The squeaking voice of Shirou Shinobi was ringing through the speakers. The man did not sound jolly like usual. "Dear citizens of republic city. Today is a black day for the four nations. Unknown terrorists attempted an attack on the well-known Republic all school´s night. Their claim to operate in the name of squirrel toad, but no further motives have been revealed at the moment." He reported gravely. Asamis heart stopped as a pained squeak escaped her throat. That – that couldn´t be true! Why would Colonel Chun do this? He could not simply have attacked faultless citizens, could he? He still was a military man! "It is reported that wargranades were launched amidst the unsuspecting crowds, Chief Lin Bei Fong reported that five officers were killed in the line of service. Also more than thirty civilians died and many more were injured. In honor of the deceased we may rise in silence…" there was just the sizzling static of the radio.

Asami sat there dazed, silent tears streaming out of her eyes. After a felt eternity Shirou Shinobis voice again cackled out of the speakers. "Dear citizens of republic city, since two of the culprits have escaped the grasp of justice the republic police force is thankful for any leads that may help to the arrest of the criminals, who seemingly have a military or martial artist background. They are considered armed an extremely dangerous, so please contact the police at once. This is Shirous Shinobi of republic city radio. In honor of today's victims the radio station will be shut down after this broadcast – my heart is with those who mourn their losses." With this the radio died, not even static remaining. Asami started crying, while mumbling incomprehensive things. She never had wanted this – why – she had tried everything that was in her power. Colonel chun had to know she could not do more than searching. If she just her father had not died on that fateful day – nothing of it would have happened. Asami sato threw her curry against the wall yelling, she also flipped the heavy wooden desk and then walked towards the phone panting from exhaustion. She picked up the earpiece and called the police, like she should have done two weeks ago! There was a strange officer on the phone. "Here´s Asami Sato, sent an officer of the organized crime division. It´s about the squirreltoad." She croaked out visibly shaken. "Ok Miss Sato – stay where you are. Are you in Danger?" the officer asked concerned, Asami simply hung up and started sobbing again, being arrested would not cut this. She had fucked up big time, people had died because of her stupid pride! She was nothing short of a cold blooded murderer.

She was like her father! Asami had barely managed to compose herself as somebody knocked on the wooden door of her dining room. "Please enter." She responded in a flat voice. She had not expected the man who entered, in fact she stumbled back almost losing her composure. Mako Chou seemed worried. "Hey." He responded and closed the distance to hug the young woman, who shoved him away with a surprising strength. Mako blinked disturbed. "What happened Asami? He asked concerned." Hadn´t he gotten the letter, why was there no disgust in his eyes? "Arrest me Mako. I- I´m…" her voice cracked. Makos brows furrowed. "What nonsense are you spouting Asami. I´m not arresting you just because you´re behaving eccentric!" he snarled nearing the limit of his patience. "I understand that you´re hurt because your father died, but that doesn´t give you the right to lie to me! If you want…" Asami interrupted him. This short tempered idiot knew nothing – but she had lied to him – she had lied to everyone. "It´s not about my father Mako!" she yelled trembling. "It´s about, about Colonel Chun and his Dai Li , it´s about these man killing people cause I can´t swallow my pride!" she yelled ashamed. Asami Sato had never felt so shameful, weak and exposed in her whole life. Makos face dropped in shock.

"Wh-what are you talking about Asami?" he asked doubtful. He seemingly did not want to believe what she had told him, which hurt her more than anything else. This man still was believing she was a good person, and she had to tear down these illusions! "M-my father developed black powder driven projectile weapons, like the experimental cannons on the prawling tiger, just so small a man can carry them. He did so for the earth nation army and got half of -THIS for it!" Asami yelled furious. Mako blinked and cursed under his breath. "That´s your father's guilt! Not your´s Asami, you can´t always take up other people's responsities!" Mako rumbled. "Two weeks ago this Dai Li Agent came and delivered contracts to me. Contracts that showed my father had to deliver weapons up till now. Fully operational for military service." She mumbled, barely keeping the sobs out of her voice. Mako was white as a sheet and seated himself on a chair.

"Why didn´t you tell me? What does the Dai Li want from you?" his voice was hurt and lost, she could not look into Makos eyes anymore. "T-THAT DOESN´T MATTER! What matters is I didn´t.." her voice trembled. "I-I searched for these things, but they´re not to be found! Chun had said he would kill you all in two weeks when I didn´t deliver Mako. He admitted the lead bit murders. They were just done so I´d believe him…What should I have done Mako… How can you catch a ghost? Tell me!" she ranted feeling somehow relieved. "I I should have made something up. Drawn some blueprints! You´ve gotten my letters. I sent letters today." She spoke turning more and more frantic. Mako was not saying anything, he was not even yelling at her, for Asami that was worse than being beaten to a pulp. "H-How should I know he´d kill innocent p-people with no connection to me!" she balled her fists. "I-I´m a murderer…p-please. Please take me to jail Mako, I – I don´t deserve a life. I – I sh…sh…" Asami Sato started crying silently while fighting for her countenance. Mako Chouw still was sitting in the chair, his face buried in his hands. Suddenly there were smashing noises accompanied by the sound of splintering wood.

Asami wiped tears away, her friend was furiously smashing the chair to splinters. Asami looked at him in shock. Would Mako try to kill her? She deserved it for sure, she hoped she would not try to defend herself when he turned on her! She should have been burned along with her mother. It was in that moment she knew what she had to do. She had to accuse herself, she had to give these people closure, that was the least she could do! She had to let go of everything, there were tears welling in her eyes, maybe she still could make something right! Still she was shocked as Mako turned, his chest heaving. "I´m shocked Asami, shocked and very, very angry." He responded barely restrained. She hung her head while blushing. How could he still talk to her, why was there still no disgust in his voice? "Why didn´t you tell me? Why FOR FUCKS SAKE!" his voice was hoarse. "I thought you were trusting me again. Well can´t blame you for not doing so." He admitted in a bitter voice. "But still you – you could´ve told SOMEBODY! Korra, Lin, Tenzin, your butler ANYONE! You stubborn idiot think you can do anything alone? Gods you could´ve been killed, abducted, raped and spirits know what!" he worked himself up.

"If your bastard of a father wouldn´t be dead already, I swear by Koh I would burn that son of a bitch to crisps! And if I get my hands on this Dai Li fuckwads…" he growled hateful. "Why, why in all heavens did you think that YOU would be at fault for these contracts?" he asked her. Asami was feeling like her heart was torn to shreds by millions of razors – why was Mako still caring? She did not deserve this, she deserved hatred and disgust for what she had done! She sniffed, her nose full of snot. "I-I thought you´d all hate me." She admitted with a small voice that was barely audible. There was silence. "I-I´m not arresting you Asami. I´m…going…or I´ll… explode." Mako blurted and stormed out of the room, Asami heard a rough hitch in his voice. Had she made Mako CRY?! Asami rose feeling cold, like a walking corpse. No – a life in jail would not cut this.

She had committed high treason, she had let terrorist run around and murder people, because she behaved like a stubborn, proud child! She owed it to the picture Mako had held in his heart. The picture of an honorable and passionate woman who cared for others, she owed it to him, to Korra – to the people who had been her family. Now, as she had reached this conclusion she felt oddly at peace. Committing seppuku was something reserved for the honorable. She had to die through hanging, like the criminal she was! Nevertheless, she had to explain her deeds to her friends, those good people would not understand her, they still wanted to believe she was innocent – Asami was shedding silent tears again. Asami rose walked towards her writing desk, as she arrived her tears had ebbed. She picked a piece of expensive, white paper, opened a new bottle of ink and also used a fresh brush. Then she started writing her confessions, the words were streaming out. The only thing she wrote hesitating was the deletion of the Sato name. But with her gone there would nobody remained who carried the family name, so it didn´t matter what the world thought of the satos! She sealed the letter and went on to write what was difficult. She would limit the letters to those closest to her, to Korra and Mako. Bo Lin most likely would not understand, no matter how clearly she explained herself, so she decided to not even try.

Bo was a tough guy, even though he was crying even faster than most girls he was probably the strongest person in Team Avatar. He broke down, let go, rose and moved on, Asami had seen it. He was no emotional infant like she and Mako, nor was he too bolt for his own good, like Korra was.

The letter for Korra was a pain, Asami needed three glasses of fire cognac to get it done, also there were some smeared signs because she had cried like a polar bear dog at new moon. Tipsy as she was she started writing Mako´s letter.

 _Dear Mako,_

 _I know that I have hurt you badly. I just could not tell you about my father's deeds, because I felt ashamed and feared to lose you. I know that our relationship has been far from easy but we never gave up on it for real. I know that it is important for you to know it. I have forgiven you for cheating with Korra, I fully understand why you fell for her – I guess I might have fallen as well if I were a man. And I have forgiven you for a long time, nevertheless I am happy you apologized for a second time. She has this capturing personality, and plain speaking she is hot. I hope that the two of you will work someday because you need somebody to keep you grounded dear Mako._

Asami poured herself another drink and gulped down the burning liquid in an instant. Since the letters would arrive when she was already dead there was no reason to hold back. Her old feelings were simmering up again, even if they were calmer. Asami was believing that the two of them would have had a chance if this thing had not happened, so there was no need for embarrassment.

 _Since I am not around to try it anymore I hope Korra does. I am writing you this letter because I want you to understand my decision and know that I love you as I walk into court. I want you to know that I don´t like the thought of dying but I think I can give the people some of their peace. A life in jail would not have the same effect ant furthermore I feel like it would be a worse punishment. When you get this letter I am gone, but I don´t want anybody to cry after me. I will do better in my next life; I promise you I will. If you still share good memories about me I will be glad. I hope you can at least forget my crimes one day. I really am sorry for not trusting in you like you deserved Mako, but I was just ashamed and feared to push everyone away from me, so I kept silent. I guess you know that trait from somebody else, right? I don´t know if it matters to you but I will wear your scarf when I´m facing my judgement, it will give me the strength I need. I know how much it means to you, undoubtedly it is the greatest gift that anybody had given me in my life. I guess I still am a selfish bitch for not giving it back to you. Sadly, I can´t give it back, I really am proud to know you Mako – you have grown a man I could look up to. You´ll be a great cop, I´m sorry to leave you all so soon, tell that to your brother, to the others – please look out for them in my stead._

 _In love Asami_

Authors note: Well it´s short but it´s intense, at least I hope that.


	13. A Chief s decisions

**Chapter 12: A Chief and her decisions**

"What is the meaning of remember the squirreltoad? Just ask the crazy idiots that started killing people out of nowhere!" she yelled infuriated. "With weapons nobody has seen, amidst a martial arts festival!" The reporters almost fainted in front of the Chief of police. Her breathing was labored. Five officers had died today, all capable and long served men. Men with families, she felt like the worst kind of trash that was walking the earth. She had thought that she at least was decent at her job – that being a cop was one of the very few things she was good at. Lin Bei Fong snorted annoyed, she would not drool in self-pity, she was a Bei Fong! But she had not seen this coming, nobody had. What military facility this guys had stolen weapons from, it was located in republic city. Handheld cannons, that was something Lin Bei Fong could not have imagined in her farthest dreams.

"Of that we, as the police force have no meaning. We have interrogated the heads of the royal sword´s academy but the insisted that they never have heard about a squirraltoad in the martial arts world. I just can appeal to all martial artists in republic city to give us any clues they might have, if this heinous crime is related to martial arts matters." Lin spoke. It would not be the first time in history some crazy and most likely drug addicted group of martial artists went on a rampage for nothing but the sheer bliss of it. Chief Bei Fong always had thought of dojos as fishy smelling places for male chest huffing and such she had avoided them like pentapusses. "A-and where could they be related to then – Chief?" a black haired young man asked with a trembling voice. Lin sighed. "Most likely this crime is related to organized crime. Since no people of public interest were killed and a politic motive can be excluded. Of course this terrifying new weaponry arises question we´ll work our hardest to answer. Most likely the message was sent by one of the succession organizations of the former imperial army. Also I would not exclude the infamous sons of the winds who tried to take a foothold in republic City for about two years now." She rattled down facts

. Nevertheless, Lin Bei Fong did not feel right with all of this. She had seen Mako today, after he had seen her dead men. The boy was gnawing on something like a mad fire ferret - something that without a doubt was a lead. He had hurried off into the city without his uniform. "Thank you very much Chief Bei Fong. What can you say about the number of victims, are their identities already revealed?" the reporter asked. This kind of people was the worst, but Lin had learned to deal with them over the years. "thirty-five people are dead, 62 injured. Five officers died in the line of service." She responded monotonous. Lin had never thought that mere three men -nonbending men- could kill so many people! "Most of the victims were spectators of the martial arts tournaments, one of the criminals was overwhelmed by a group of fighters and stabbed himself in the process." She responded. That the man had been clobbered to death by a group of well-known thugs was a small detail she kept to herself. This was the one time she would let these men run free after committing a crime. Also Lee´s daughter was somehow involved in this and Lin Bei Fong would not send a good girl like her into prison. Not even for a night!

"Do you think further attacks like these could take place?" a woman asked as the air turned eerie. Yes, she definitely could. She had no idea what these maniacs were after. But she highly doubted that these men had not conveyed the message they wanted to convey up till now! They had shown that they would stop at nothing to achieve what they wanted. They even were willing to cruelly kill children and women with war grenades – and maim the survivors for life. Three of the victims had not even been three years old, Lin Bei Fong was mortified about this. Whenever you thought you had seen all the demons that lurked in the human soul somebody showed up and proved you wrong, it sent chills down her spine. "I doubt it, these criminals did this to send a message to the republic city underbelly, and I respond as the chief of police that these men don´t will succeed in making us cower in fear. I announce that every cop of republic city is going after them, and by the spirits we will not go easy on these monsters!" she responded with brimming anger in her voice. As a person of public life she should not act so faceless, but she could not help it. There were shimmers of hope in the reporters faces, maybe she had not totally messed up this interview.

"Thank you for your time." The reporter responded. "That should be enough to write an article and calm the citizens." He sighed obviously displeased. "You´re right – it is MORE than enough." Lin Bei Fong responded gravelly. The press bowed courtly and retreated, measly slime throwers they were! She turned and almost stormed back into her office. The last two days had worn her out. Even though Lin Bei Fong was used to being awake longer than usual persons she was sleepy. Olong did not help her anymore, it stopped helping years ago. Instead of returning to her office Line Bei Fong headed towards the bunks. She had stopped living in Bei Fong Manison years ago, what should she do with this big, empty memorial of a family that was not there anymore? The old agony returned into her chest, it was a hollow dull pain. She had gotten used to being alone with her job. Lin Bei Fong was not jealous; she could have been able to change that fact for years – but against all possibilities she had thought that Tenzin mysteriously would return to her someday.

Until Jinora was born of course, afterwards she had to let go of her secret dream, which had hurt a lot. It was important that her lover was happy – being in love meant to place somebody else in front of you she had told herself. As Chief bei Fong slipped into her plain, slightly dusty apartment she let out a sigh. She focused and shrugged. The clasps snapped open and her armor clattered onto the floor. With well-practiced, almost lazy seeming motions she bended the Metal parts on the wooden armor stand. She washed herself and then slipped into her cold bed. Despite knowing she had to sleep, because she otherwise would be asleep when the next shift begun, Lin Bei Fong could not find her rest. She was wiggling and turning in the bed like a worm. There were so many thoughts on her mind she was not able to lay still. She worried about attending her officer's funerals tomorrow. Also she was sure that Lee would not call it a week standing in front of her office, he could be as stubborn as she was herself. How somebody like Lee could be an air bender was something Lin could not understand, but aside from this mystery she knew rather well how he ticked.

She was sure that he wanted to thank her – even if she just had given his daughter a ride. And if Lee wasn´t coming Yumi would come for sure, which actually was the worse option. Yumi was not easily scared off by her rash behavior. She had been happy that the couple had returned to republic city, but she did not want to have people in her life again. She was unable to take proper care of people and so they left, the only one who had not left her boring self-had been Tenzin, and he had left her because she could not bear children for him. She understood, Tenzin had been the last air nomad, he had felt the need to revive his people – that had been his destiny. Lin was proud to see he had found fulfillment in his family and growing tribe. If she had not caught this terrible bladder fever after entering the force… There would be no Pema – why had Tenzins wife to be so nice! Lin would have loved to be able to hate her with a good conscience but she could not. Lin snorted and dug herself deeper in her cushion. She did not need Tenzin – most likely she did not even love him anymore.

Furthermore, she had a job to do, so she needed sleep. Whenever she forcefully cleared her head the pictures of two days ago did haunt her, the torn up bodies, a little girl who had lost both her legs and her father. The hot blood on her hands, a metallic smell in her nose – the moment when Officer Kung´s heart stopped beating under her hands. Even if it was not the first death on duty she had witnessed, it was one of the most shocking. But as much as Lin wanted to sob, yell or pound the floor, it was not possible for her. Also the illusion of safety had been ripped apart from her. She had not felt so vulnerable since she lost her bending due to this madman. She still remembered this dull, weak feeling nonbenders had to be feeling their whole lives. To not feel the earth hum, to not sense the smooth, wobbling presence of steel everywhere around her – it had been frightening. That you could go mad over this loss was something Lin did understand perfectly well. But this same steel turning against metal benders was even more terrifying. Tiny pieces of metal had shattered iron armors before anybody could notice. She had retrieved the weapon from the killed man, her engineers were marveling at this piece of almost otherworldly engineering.

Nevertheless, they had no idea how much gunpowder you could fill into the barrels without hijacking them. Whoever had developed this thing, it had to be a genius – or somebody who had spent his lifetime on this feat! While the woman still had a bad night somehow the morning arrived and with him the routine of work. Lin Bei Fong wanted to scream in frustration and tear her armor to scraps, but of course she sighed, swallowed the burning fury and bended it on. She didn´t eat any real breakfast and stormed towards her office. As she was hurrying through the corridors she almost bumped into Mako. "Morning." She responded harshly, Chief Bei Fong did not slow her stride. The young man easily caught up. "Chief – we´ve got to talk." Her responded, his voice hoarse. "I´ve got work to do Inspector– so keep it short Mako!" she ordered. "I should have arrested Asami." He stated dryly. Lin halted her steps. "Why the FUCK should you do something like this? She beat you lil cheaters pretty face?" She responded snidely, with time the work as an officer had stained Lin´s once pure language. "I´ll not talk about a matters of state security in the hallway Chief. I should have talked with you yesterday." The young man responded, his face an unreadable scowl. Be cautious Lin, your anger has nothing to do with Mako. Just because you´re a sore loser if it comes to past loves not everyone must be, the woman reasoned with herself.

They walked until they reached Lin´s office. They entered and the woman seated herself in the leather seat her mother had occupied many years ago. The seat was giving her strength, it was something that held her, also it was her mother's seat! "So, why should you arrest Asami Sato?" she asked, but there was an ill foreboding in her stomach already. "Because this squirreltoad incident is – well – as the heir of Hiroshi Sato it´s her responsibility. I just wanted to visit her but…She told me then." He stated, his eyes burning. Lin let out a dry almost gagging sound. Why in all heaven´s should Asami found a bunch of lunatics? She had gotten to know her as somebody who had a sense of honor that surpassed her big heart – she could – she did not WANT to believe that all that had been an illusion. "So Sato had designed these – things." She felt her hairs stand up by the lone thought of the horrible portable cannons. Mako nodded. "This bastard has – for money he has invented them and sold them to the earth nation army." He hissed with a barely audible voice. "But that´s just the tip of the iceberg." He wiped his forehead and continued with a lost voice. "He promised the army things that were even WORSE and now the earth nation has sent Dai Li to collect them – these guys are soldiers, well-honed killing machines, who stop at nothing." He responded desperate.

"We have no names, Asami has just seen one of them – the man who showed her the contract." It poured out of Makos mouth. Lin was gripping the armrests of her seat, pressing her back into it forcefully. "Ever blessing mother of faces." She responded shocked. "That was two sixteen days ago. Asami had to find some blueprints of a project named squirrel toad but – she wasn´t able to do so. And as she heard of the bloodbath she called the police at once." The young man's bad arm was twitching again. Lin pinched the bridge of her nose. That indeed were horrible news. „I understand." Lin bit her bottom lip. Asami had hindered police investigations, most likely because she felt guilty of what her father had done – silly girl! She had committed a crime and so she had to be punished, as the Chief of police she was not allowed to make exceptions. "Why haven´t you arrested her Mako?" Lin asked with furrowed brows. "She would be safer in jail than she´s anywhere else, with those men on the loose." She responded. Mako closed his eyes. "I could not – you haven´t seen her Chief." His jaw was grinding. "If I could get this bastard back to life….I´d burn him alive" He fumed and clenched his fists. Steam was shooting out of his nostrils. Lin understood whom he meant, she also would have loved to smack the life out of Hiroshi Sato at that moment.

"Also…jail…I doubt Asami would survive that, gods Chief." He was grabbing for something that was not there. Lin Bei Fong noticed that Mako´s scarf was gone. Why would he leave his precious scarf behind? He had carried this thing through so much adventures and live threatening situations you could think it was a part of his body. "I ´m furious at her…pff...But also I´m quite pathetic…I wonder if it would be different if I never had gone all – Team Avatar." He chuckled a humorless chuckle "Karma´s a bitch!" he rose. Lin felt a lump in her chest. Mako had never talked to her like that. When had they become so close? "You know it´s my duty to arrest you, too." She responded dryly. Mako did not even flinch, at least that he could have done! "Assisting a crime – the laws are just bullcrap." She sighed. Actually Lin was thinking about arresting Asami and Mako, but she knew that this would stir up the public, also she was far from being not conflicted. It would have been so easy if she just stuck to the law word by word – but Lin always had struggled with generalizations. her struggling with the appropriateness of her decisions, that was what had made her hair grizzly at thirty-five! The young man was sitting in his chair.

"If you want to arrest me I´m warning you Chief. I don´t like to fight you, but I would. You´re not getting me into cuffs before this is over. I´ve got a promise to keep." He stated determined, Lin had seen Mako this determined once, on the day he took up the badge. Why the kid loved being a cop that much always would remain a mystery for Lin, who would have loved to run an art gallery instead of chasing criminals. Lin snorted. "As if you stood a chance Chouw." Actually she was rather sure that it would get ugly if she tried to subdue Mako, but why in all heavens was she sitting in her seat? Why had she not wrapped the massive desk around the fire bender and lifted him off towards prison? There was a soft sound, Lin looked at the golden badge Mako had placed on the table. "I- I understand you may want that back Chief." He looked hurt and saddened, almost grim. Lin had felt like that taking up the badge – it had taken years to find comfort in the heavy armor, the patrols and arrests. "I´ll never understand why you´re clinging to this piece of brass so much Mako, it doesn´t make the world turn. And if we´re talking straight there are many guys in the force who´ve committed more crimes than you." she admitted.

It was something nobody liked talking about, but the police of course were corrupt. And yes, there were some of her colleagues Lin did not want to cross in a dark alley. But they still were cops, they – they still were family, which made it so hard to do anything against them. Mako nodded. "So you´re turning a blind eye Chief?" he asked her, with a hint of hope in his voice. "That depends Mako, if the press gets a whiff of this story I can´t do nothing. But if nobody knows, nobody cares." She stated. "thank you Chief, thank you." Mako bowed formally – obviously moved. Lin looked away, she felt uncomfortable. Feelings were something that made her feel – lonely and idiotic. "Good Chief, anyways I´m taking some days off, to be precise I´ll take two months. We both know I´ve got enough hours on my record. I have wolfbats to catch and I can´t do that when I´ve got other cases on hand." He responded. Lin nodded, he was right. Of course she had set up a squirreltoad task force around Captain Hungshu, who actually would have been a much better Chief of Police than she herself!

The guy knew every name, he even knew the cleaning ladies, something Lin would never manage. But these guys weren´t Mako Chouw if it came to – picking daisies – as her mother had titled the more delicate parts of police work. Toph Bei Fong had been bad at picking daisies, but she had had Mochee, now there was a second dark one in the force. She nodded. "That is a wise decision Mako – we all have to do what we can, have you been invited to Bo Lin´s garden party, too? Because I think about ditching it. Somebody has to work!" she stated grimly. Actually Lin hated parties, mostly because there were so many happy couples. But even worse than the couples were the old bachelors that were trying to get her laid – the worst was when one of them actually succeeded. No, she wasn´t in her thirties anymore. Mako released a deep sigh. "Hell no – why NOW of all times. In what lofty place is Bo hovering? Just because he moved to the countryside he can´t NOT know of the squirreltoad thing can he?" the young man asked. Lin shrugged. "I don´t know. What I know is that Opal hasn´t written for two months straight." She said. It was usual for young people to ignore the old, nevertheless Lin felt a bit hurt. She had thought her niece was actually interested in her aunt. "Since the wedding? There´s something fishy… If I didn´t knew that my brother can´t keep a secret over his dead body - I would guess they´re having a child or something like that." Mako mused. Lin eyed him shocked - that actually WAS a possibility, but Opal was so young! "Heavens, you could be right Mako." She stated and then eyed the heap of reports that was resting on her desk.

No matter how long she waited, the heap would not become smaller. "Then get out on the streets Inspector Chouw, I have papers to attend too, as you see." Lin sighed annoyed and grabbed the first report. It was a report of Kuang Shi, an officer whose handwriting was close to being illegible. What was so difficult about writing? Lin furrowed her brows and started reading, it seemed Kuang and his partner had taken in an illegal betting office – 20000 yuan confiscated, an almost pleased smirk settled on Lins face. For 20.000 yuan you could tolerate an illegible report. She heard the clicking sound of the door shortly afterwards, Mako had left and so she could fully immerse herself in work. Like every day Lin lifted her slightly dizzy head from her papers the first hour after midday. Her body was like a fine tuned clock if it came to daily routine. While the woman braced herself and awaited another bag of still warm dumplings in front of her door she was astonished to find neither a puppy eyed Lee, nor a bag of dumplings! Her stomach was growling; she had gotten used to this delivery service. There were rumors behind her back, Bei Fong having a suitor and such, that was plainly hilarious! Lin left the headquarters and joined the lined up stalls. Captain Hungshu was grumpily slurping flameo noodles. "Hello Ma´am. Dammit my man Lee´s really pampered us, that stuff tastes like worn straw sandals." He rumbled listlessly picking in his noodles.

The smell of sesame oil, chillis and onions was beautiful. Lin licked her lips. "I´m hungry." She responded and looked at the small queue that had formed in front of the flameo cart. "So Lee is not working today? Well I would be astonished if he had been working." She responded flatly. "Huh. You know Lee?" Ping Hungshus eyes flew wide. "No – no fucking way – YOU were that girl in Kantu Hills weren´t you Chief!" Lin looked startled – what was the Captain talking about. Girl in Kantu hills? What kind of nonsense was Lee spouting? She frowned and Hungshu flinched. "E-eh I´ve said nothing Chief, you know. Totally would be good for Lee to get …. Ah never mind!" he stuttered and dug in his noodles with new found enthusiasm. "I-I´m better off to work." He mumbled and fled munching. Lin was blinking, this man really was irritating sometimes. So Lin walked up to the noodle stand and bought some flameo chicken, the noodles DID taste like straw sandals drenched with chicken soup. But since Lin´s body demanded food she hungrily slurped them down, while making her way back to her office.

She had no time to lose, in two hours she had to be ready for her daily combat practice. Lin had barely entered the main hall as a well clad servant approached her. "Chief Bei Fong?" he asked her. "Yes? What´s the matter?" she snapped, spirits damn it, did she look like chit chat? "My name is.." the man started. Lin simply strode on, she had no time to waste. The man should turn to one of her officers! "Chief – please wait." The servant hurried after her. Lin stopped her almost running steps, she would make herself hilarious if it looked like she fled from an elderly man. Lin furrowed her brown and the servant gulped, sweat rising in his pores. "Um…I´m Ba Tan, at your service. I´m here as the legal deputy of Miss Asami Sato." He spoke. Lin´s heart skipped a beat. What did Asami want with a legal deputy, why did she not stop by herself? It was not like Asami to send somebody over important business! "And why does Miss Sato need a…deputy? She´s no rheumatic old woman, so she can stop by herself if she wants to make a report." She responded. "Well – it´s about personal reasons. Miss Sato can´t walk around because." The servant leaned closer. "A certain Mr. Chouw has posted a spy in front of her manison, so she can´t do what she deems necessary." He responded. The man surely looked unhappy.

Lin quirked an eyebrow. "Follow me into my office." She stated. Somehow she had the feeling Asami was diving into a manure heap head first! The servant followed her. As soon as she had closed the door of her office he slumped into a chair. His face was ashen. "Miss Sato wants you to deliver this to the council." He sighed deeply. "It´s not my place to say a word about my Mistresse´s decisions – sadly." The man sounded battered. Lin took up the portfolio and started reading.

 _I Sato Asami, born on 2_ _nd_ _of the bear 67 after the peace of Miyako, seek justice in full possession of sanity._

"What is this foolish child doing?" Lin blurted shaken, she would have loved to be surprised but she wasn´t. If she had been Asami Sato she would have accused herself as well. The heavens, a young woman like Asami in jail – such a waste!

 _As the heiress of Sato Industries I was not aware of contracts my father made with the earthern empire seven years before the rise of Kuvira. These contracts covered the development of black powder driven projectile weaponry for military use. They were never publicly listed in the books of future industries. As the heiress of Sato Industries the responsibility of these contracts was transferred to me in person. I know that the mere possession of such papers is a crime against the four nations, I accuse myelf of illegal trade with weaponry._

Lin blinked, did Asami know that dealing weapons was enough for a life sentence in isolation? No, this IDIOT! Why was she doing that to herself? The poor Child never had traded weapons, she had not even thought about doing such things! Lin was fuming.

 _Furthermore, the weapons used in the lead bit killings were supplied and developed by my late father. I demand that the Name Sato is eradicated from all official records and his patent´s as well as his legacy are given back to the united nation as public property. All my worldly belongings shall be left in the care of the high council, which shall elect a legal caretaker for future industries. Also I wish the destruction of his gravesite._

Lins breath was shallow, she could not imagine how painful it must have been to write this down. For somebody as proud as Asami – Lin was sure she could not have written those lines, no matter what her mother had done! To abandon the own surname, the history that went with it!

 _I admit that a Colonel Chun of the Dai Li demanded the blue prints of a new weaponry model. I was informed about my father's bloody contracts that day, listed under the project name squirreltoad. Despite my efforts I was not able to find said blueprints, which I suppose are not existent. I admit supporting the crime of illegal manufacture of forbidden goods and demand the just punishment. Furthermore, I did not inform the police about these heinous crimes because of selfish pride and ignorance. I want to sincerely apologize to those whose beloved fell victim to my hubris! The terroristic act committed at the yearly held Republic all school's night was also committed with weapons crafted by my father, and was carried out as a means of intimidation from said Dai Li Agents. I do not deny that all those people would be alive if I had signed over Sato industries to the earthern nations, hereby I accuse myself of cold blooded murder in multiple cases. Also I accuse myself of high treason towards the earthern Kingdom in which lands the contracts I willfully exposed, were signed._

 _I Asami Sato confess guilty towards all charges and demand the utmost punishment._

Lin let out a soft terrified sigh.

 _I hereby decline to be jailed in exile and face my punishment without exclusion of the public, I demand the death penalty through hanging, as it was written in earth nation law. I hope that my death will lessen the pain of those who have lost beloved persons through my doings. I hope you can forgive me for my deeds, because I can not._

Lin´s hands were trembling. Had Asami lost her mind? She – thought she had committed murder, high treason? Lin dropped the portfolio with tears in her eyes. She never had read anything that showed less of the selfishness Asami Sato accused herself of. Lin Bei Fong lacked words as she shielded her face behind upraised hands. "How could you even bring this to me Mr. Tan? Can´t you see that this is just a young woman´s desperation? High treason! What kind of asshole are you!" Lins voice almost broke. What in all heavens should she do? Should SHE commit high treason? If this letter saw the public not even Tenzin could save Asami.

Authors: REVIEWS REVIEWS!


	14. Tying loose ends

**Chapter 12: Tying loose ends**

I was beside myself of worry as I paced to an forth in front of the Water tribe cultural Center. In knew, I simply knew that Sokka had been on the festival and as soon as I heard the news of the terroristic attack I had swung myself on the Noodle Cart, not caring that I lost ingredients and water as I cycled over the cobblestrones of the streets. I never had ridden a bicycle that fast, my legs were still shaking but the only thing on my mind was my daughter. I felt like crying, what should I do when something had happened to my squirt? I feared she was crippled or worse! "Officer – have you seen a young woman?" I almost gripped the sergeants shoulder pieces. "Sokka Adachi´s the name, around my height short cropped black hair!" my voice was short of pleading. The officer looked down from guarded eyes. "I´m sorry sir, if your daughter is not with the moon priests, the healers from the hospital." He did not speak further as cold fear dug sharp claws in my head. I prayed to all spirits in existence that Sokka was well and alive. "Show me the bodies." I responded, my voice sharp and icy. My jaws were grinding as I tried to prepare myself for the worst, it was a hopeless preparation I guessed.

The officer stepped aside after searching me for weapons. "You´ll find them." Her stated in a plain voice. I walked into the park. The grass was trampled, partially muddy. The bushes were trodden into the ground as if a herd of oostrich horses had passed through the lawns. I soon heard heart wrenching cries. A lot of bodies were placed on white linen, mothers, sisters, lovers – all sorts of people were crying, some of them even fumbling with the shredded remains of their beloved ones. My pulse was throbbing in my head and I felt close to passing out as I reached them. The bodies were smelling gruesome, blood, shit and the other smells of a butcher´s shop. I felt a twinge of nausea as I passed the sobbing people, I was relieved for every dead body who did not wear red. I was sure my daughter would wear her mother's Gi. She was a really nostalgic young woman. As I saw a red trouser I hurried towards the body my sight already blurring. An old man was kneeling before the male body, whose legs and under belly had been torn to shreds by a grenade. It looked horrid, like straight out of a nightmare. So, that was what war looked like!

"Thank the heavens I mumbled." And walked on, luckily the old man did not her my words, some other people did though. They eyed me as if I was the biggest scumbag alive. There were no other people clad in red, also there was nobody who could have been my daughter. I was furious, what kind of monsters could do something like this. There were children dead – little children who were going to elementary school! I could understand the unbearable pain that their death would cause their parents. I just had been lucky to not experience that pain myself. Nevertheless, I still was worried, what if Sokka was injured? I stormed back towards my bicycle and rode again, sweating and gasping for air I arrived in front of the hospital. Hell, was loose there. Groaning und whimpering people were rested in front of the small seeming brick building. Nurses and healers were bustling around in bloodied clothes. I looked Men with iron shards in their Chests, Children with blood streaked, deformed faces, arms and legs. But still there was no Sokka.

I squeezed myself through the rows of hastily erected stretcher beds until I caught a woman who was holding clipboard and pen. "Excuse me Miss?" I had to stop myself from grabbing her shoulder and yanking her around. The woman was sweat streaked. Flies were buzzing around everywhere, it was impossible to keep them away from the wounded. "Yes. What can I do for you?" she asked obviously stressed out. "Is a young woman…" she interrupted me. "Name!" she commanded harshly. "Adachi Sokka." I responded while I was short of losing my temper. The woman flipped through her papers, while I again prayed to Sousanoo, the mother of faces, the spritits of fortune and every other god I could think of. After a felt eternity, she shook her head. "No, nobody with the name Adachi or Sokka." She stated. "Thank you." I was almost jubilant as I jogged back to my cart. Drops of sweat were pouring down my nose as I started towards the moon temple. The moon temple was of course located on a hill, the slope dragged itself endlessly.

The streets seemed almost death, the shops of republic city had already closed and the few people who were outside hurried around. Most likely they also were searching for missing family members, I supposed. The temple district was silent, it seemed as if the worldly noise died down, shattering against invisible walls. Even I could see the strange, fish-like spirits floating through the heavens along with other strange looking things that walked the wide gardens of the temples. I felt my hair rise up slightly. I still was not comfortable around spirits and most likely I would never be. I had grown up in a time where just a few chosen ones had the "true sight" and I had never been part of this exclusive circle. But now the Spirits materialized when and where they wanted. It was surprising that not more accidents occurred. I saw two-legged lemur like beasts feed from the offerings that were given at every one of the countless small shrines on the roadside. Some screeching little hippo thing seated itself inside of my rice steamer. Somehow the air around me suddenly felt a bit chilly as the spirit started munching with squeaking sounds most people would call adorable. "Hush- fuck off!" I blurted but the little thing did just lift his head and looked at me with huge eyes. It did not even pay attention as my hand which was almost reaching it and munched on. This little thing was sly, it had learned that humans could not hurt it, and so I did not give a fuck about us.

I was wondering what the high spirits thought about us, most likely we were nothing more than insects to them. Finally, I reached the blue and white painted walls of the moon temples. I parked the noodle cart. At once spirits hurried at it, some of them even flew through me – I felt a strange chill as they passed. These damned flying hippos, how much of them were even here? My noodle cart was swarming with at least thirty individuals. I walked into the gardens, there were ponds and artificial streams everywhere. Black and white Koi were circling through the steaming waters in little schools. The park was calms, there were a few people praying in front of the moon goddess statue, some also sat in front of the statue of La and the minor river gods. They without a doubt were bringing offerings for their ill. I walked over the stony path until I arrived at the wooden temple building, which looked like an oversized version of a watertribe temple. I walked up to the wooden doorframe which was closed by a polar bear dog pelt.

I went inside, a slight wetness was in the air, that made it seem cool and lively. The wide praying hall had been restructured into a makeshift hospital. Around twenty people were lying in beds, most of them already treated. They did not look nearly as bad as the ones in front of the hospital. Priests and shrine servants bustled around in a silent, efficient way. An elderly woman spotted me and crossed the distance with silent strides after patting a man's head and rising from his bedside. "What can I do for you brother?" she asked. I quirked my eyebrow. I still was not used to this – the whole tribe is a family - bullshit. The southern ways were quite strange sometimes, and this woman spoke in the broad, slow way of the southerners. I was still catching my breath. "I'm searching for a woman named Adachi Sokka." I stated while I was rather sure Sokka was not here. The woman nodded. "Your wife?" she asked while turning. "I am going to ask sister Kanna, she knows the names of all our current patients." She responded politely. I waited until the woman returned shaking her head. "I don´t know if it is good news but we know of no Sokka Adachi brother." She responded, while I let out a deep sigh. Sokka had not been injured, but if she wasn´t where could she possibly be?

"Thank you very much – I´ve places to go." I responded hurrying out, my legs were aching but the setting dawn seemed much brighter now. I had no Idea where Sokka could be and so it would be wise to return home. Maybe she was there. I chuckled at my own ignorance – most likely she would be there, I highly doubted she would just go home after witnessing something like this. Even I was shaken and I called myself a rather tough man. I felt sad that Sokka had to lose her childlike trust in humanity like that. You couldn´t protect your child from life itself but knowing that didn´t make me feel any better at all. It was already dark, just gas lanterns giving a flickering light in the dark streets. While I was riding homewards I notice five police patrols in the streets. The cops were outside, most likely whipped up by olong and shouting superiours. I had myself been in these shoes twenty years ago. When I arrived in my neighborhood I could see the soldiers of the terra triad on the street. They were smoking pipes, carrying clubs and brutish looking swords. "Yo." One of them huffed dryly. "Evening." I responded as I halted in front of my garage and entered the house without caring about my precious noodle cart. I started tumbling upstairs, I was utterly done for, my steps heavy and loud. It was pitch-black in the staircase, I even jammed a splinter into my hand, but I had no time for cursing. As I arrived upstairs I twirled my arms as I heard a body move, joints were knocking.

"Dad?" I almost did not recognize my daughters hoarse voice. I grit my teeth as I fought the shivers that were running through my body. I guess there aren´t many times in my life I had been more grateful about anything than for this single, mumbled word.

"Who the fuck are you – answer me!" Sokka stated her voice quivering almost frantic now. I still had not responded anything. "M-Me." I responded as I stopped a mighty airblast reflexively. I nevertheless was almost pushed over the edge of the stair. "O-I-I´m sorry." Sokka responded waving her hands around to find me. I could see her now, as I followed the countless flows of air, the bending calmed me. As if it were broad daylight I walked up to her and grabbed her searching hands. My squirt rushed into me and hugged my stinking, sweat soaked self. Sokka also was shivering in horror and started sobbing incoherently. "Shh-shh." I tried to calm her, rubbing small circles on her back, I myself was tearing up. I felt guilty, if I had not allowed her to move out – would she have seen this bloodshed? Had I been an irresponsible good for nothing father? It hurt to hold her like that, if Yumi just had been alive. Damn it Miss Adachi, why did you have to leave me so early – huh? We stood there for half an eternity, I was at a loss of words, but Sokka calmed like she always did.

I then gently forced myself out of Sokkas embrace and opened the locked door towards my flat. It was rather hot up here but since it was not very rainy at the moment I had loosened some of the roof tiles. You could see the stars from my bedside, I always had loved a starlit sky. The Oil Lamp was still flickering and so I hastily lit some more lamps until I could get a better look on Sokka. My daughter looked unharmed, though her hands were full of bloodstains. She eyed them almost frightened. "Come, I´m taking care of that squirt." I responded pouring some water and soap into a bowl. She nodded with puffy red eyes and followed me like an obedient four-year-old. I did wash her hand gently, while I was close to sniffling, too. The water turned an ugly maroon. I spilled it on the roof, while Sokka was scrubbing her hands furiously. I determined gripped the towel. "That´s enough Sokka." I responded softly and led her to my bed. "You´re hungry?" I asked after seating her. My daughter was thinking. "No – no I-I.." she gulped. "I´m a coward dad." She admitted with a small voice. "I didn´t do anything as – as this guy killed the people. I- I just attacked after this weapon was empty. A-And after frog-man was killed." She responded staring at her feet. My vision was spinning. Sokka had done WHAT!

She had attacked one of these armed Killers. I gripped a table. "Dad?" she asked. "Are you crazy Sokka? You could´ve been killed too!" I snorted while the fear was plainly evident in my voice. Awesome, now I was bawling. "What shoud I´ve done if you also left me squirt huh?" I just hugged the shit out of a dazzled Sokka. She quickly melted into me and also started sniffling again. "Thank the spirits you´re alive Sokka. I `m so glad you´re still here. You reckless idiot!" I also added some rather colorful curses. My nose also was filled with snot, I snorted into a handkerchief and handed it to my daughter. She dug herself under My cushions, obviously exhausted. I snuggled myself behind her, I supposed we both felt the need for some closeness. Sokkas still shoulders slowly relaxed and her breath became slower and less forced. "Wanna talk about that frog guy?" I asked her. Sokka tensed up. "No – not yet dad. I – I. Couldn't help him. He´s dead cause he was t-the b-bravest guy I´ve ever seen." She responded shivering. I just started caressing her hair as I had done when she had been a child. "He´ll be in the otherworld for sure Sokka. That´s a thing I believe. But you aren´t a coward kid, you´re a very brave young woman and I´m proud to be your father." I croaked Sokka just gripped my hand and dragged it around her belly. "Huh, like the old days?" I asked marveling. Usually Sokka hated cuddling with her old man, but today of course it was a different thing. My daughter went to sleep, while my Arm started prickling, also I felt cold because there was no blanket on my back.

Nevertheless, I did not dare to move. My little girl needed her sleep. I also dozed off and was woken by being nudged into my shoulder. I toppled and rolled from the futon. Sokka was breathing heavily, yelling. There was an airblast that propelled her across the mattress. I rolled over and shook her. "Don´t you..H-help!" Sokka cried as I shook her awake forcefully. "You´re safe Sokka, you´re at home." I responded as she was getting up and wiped her tears away. My daughter was panting heavily. "I-I dreamed, I was there again. B-but this time the man killed everybody with his – t-thing." Sokka chocked down a sob, it hurt to see her like this, I had no idea what I should do. "Wanna talk about it, squirt?" I asked her. I was sure I could not get any sleep for the rest of this night, most likely Sokka could not sleep as well. While she was fighting her constricted throat at first, the words started pouring out. Her words did not make much sense but that was not important. It was important to get them out of her chest. Sokka started crying as she told me about this young warrior who mindlessly charged the terrorist. It was indeed admirable courage but I was glad Sokka was not THAT courageous. She still had done something most people would never have dared. I just wuzzled her head. "Just please don´t worry me like that again Sokka." I responded honest, while my daughter mumbled something into my shoulder with a muffled voice. She than dug herself in the cushions. "How did you come home Sokka? I mean, did you really remember the way back here?" I asked wondering.

How much exploring had my daughter done since she arrived in Republic? "Chief Bei Fong brought me here." Sokka responded. There was another unpleasant throb in my chest. Lin had taken care of my little girl – there was even more on the make-up list now! I asked myself how I could cross the gap between me and Linny, I just wanted to be her friend again. But that idiotic woman would not even listen to my excuses! Why in the heavens had all Bei Fongs to behave like gods damned Monoliths! "Spirits. The girls will worry themselves sick about me!" Sokka suddenly yanked upright. "The girls?" I asked dazzled. Sokka was living together with girls? She must have seen my dazzled face because she frowned. "Why are you staring at me like that dad?" she asked dumb folded. "Well – ehm." I felt myself flushing. "I- just never thought you would move in with girls - like in GIRLS!" I stated smiling embarrassed. "What?" Sokka looked adorable, her nose crimped and all.

"Oh yes, my father thinks I´m some kind of man-eater who moves in with a bunch of single blokes. Thanks very much dad." Sokka deadpanned. Actually, I had imagined that Sokka was more of the solitary housing type than anything else. "I thought you would live alone?" I added weakly. It was the first time that a wry smile flushed across Sokkas face. "Geez old man, what the hell are you." Sokka shook her head. "No I´m living together with five other women, close to the spirit portal." She told me. "Not the nicest of places." I added slightly worried. Sokka snorted. "Well Dad – if you´re not running through the spirit forest at night, or forget the offerings you can´t even see the spirits. The people are just making a fuzz about nothing, like always." My daughter explained. Actually, that sounded different from what I had experienced in the temple district. "These little flying Hippos are worse than dove-rats Sokka. These bastards are just looming in the air everywhere. The little scoundrels devoured ten pounds of rice Sokka. What do things that basically are energy even need food for! In the spirit realms, there isn´t even a piece of matter!" I griped, releasing a bit of the tension that I held in.

"Dad – can you make some tea?" Sokka pleaded. Under different circumstances I might have laughed at her but today I gladly shuffled off to the stove. The Kettle soon was piping and I could add some Matcha powder, for unfathomable reasons Sokka loved this grassy, bitter brew. Tea shouldn´t be green, it should be golden! I poured two cups and handed one to Sokka. She blew over the steaming liquid and cupped the clay pot in her hands. Her face relaxed seemingly. She took a first gulp, I almost wanted to tear the cup out of her hands. Just like her mother she drank her tea so hot I almost felt physical pain watching her. I would have to let my tea cool for at least a quarter of an hour. As I finally was able to drink the tea Sokka had finished her cup, placed it on the bedside and wiggled herself under the sheets again. "Good night dad." She responded. "Good night my little squirt." I responded patting her head, Sokka just let out a slight gargling sound. "Should I call you little princess instead? I ´ve hear that´s …" I responded. "Don´t you dare." Sokka mumbled. I chuckled at that. Even though I had barely slept I got up at dawn and prepared my sauces, Noodles and dumplings. I left Sokka a note, tat told her I was in front of the police headquarters. My daughter slept soundly as I left the flat.

The triad men started at me disturbed as I cycled to work like it was an usual day. Most likely my earnings would be trivial today, but I was not going out for the money. I was going to crack a wall named Lin Bei Fong. I arrived at my usual place as the only cart for the day. I started firing up the oven as some cops passed by with struggling captives. "Morning lads!" I greeted waving. My first dumpling, which usually were my own breakfast, were still in the steamer as they returned. "Yo Mr. Lee, setting up the stall after yesterday?" Hi Shin asked surprised.

"Yeah – the world doesn´t stop turning and people need their food, no matter what crazy psychopaths are running loose." I responded. The guys laughed a forced laugh. "Fry us some noodles – extra spicy n with komodo-rhino." They ordered. "There you go, gents." I responded. "Say officers – is Chief Bei Fong living in the headquarters or when does that woman go to work." I asked them innocently. "Heh, you´re a crazy bloke Mr. Lee – courting the iron maiden. Heck that takes guts." Tenma Feng blurted. I just rolled my eyes. "If I were courting I´d definitely use firelily – roots in my dumplings." I smiled deviously. Me and Lin courting, please – that was plainly ridiculous! No, when I was being objective it looked exactly like that. "Furthermore I know the Chief since childhood guys, it´s just that we lost touch like almost thirty years ago and she´s pissed." I responded. The guys were looking at me as if I told them I had ridden a dragon all the way to the moon and back. "What -Chief Bei Fong was in school?" one of the officers blurted, while his colleagues facepalmed.

"Yeah – at four nations elementary to be precise." I responded, did these guys think Lin had been born reading a book or what? "Always thought that a Bei Fong would have private tutors." The man added. The sesame oil was hissing as I was stirring the noodles around and put a lot of Chilipaste, black beans, Soja sprouts, onions and shred cabbage in it. Alongside the Komodo meat was sizzling in another wok. The guys were talking about their cases, mainly muggings, break ins and other daily business. I listened while tending the noodles. I handed them over in paper bags, along with chopsticks. "Seven silver forty." I responded. The guys handed the cash over and started enjoying their meal. The happy faces told me it was good, and spicy. "Well. Chief Bei Fong comes at dusk and leaves at dawn Mr. Lee." One of the guys responds. "If there´s nothing special – you know, I can´t believe she´s human." He responded openly. "I mean, I love my job but I´d be in the nuthouse if I was on duty every fucking day of the year!" he responded. There was admiration in his voice. Lin – what kind of bullshit were you doing, no wonder you were close to looking like an old hag! That woman should prepare herself for a good shouting! Shortly afterwards another group of night shifters came in for some noodles.

Actually, I got even more customers than usually, mostly because nobody besides me was on the street. I´ve never heard so much praise of my cooking skills before and somehow got a bit flustered. Damn I was not some high and mighty cuisine chef, just a noodle man! Nevertheless, I prepared two bags of fried noodles; with turtle duck, eggs, spring onions, cabbage Bamboo, mungo sprouts and black beans. Then I headed towards Lin´s office again. I knocked. "Enter." Her voice was as harsh as ever, maybe even harsher. She looked at me, Lin was even paler than usual and her eyes adorned by grey rings. "Fuck off Lee." She rambled, but not with as much gusto as usual. He table was strewn with paperwork; a pile of empty mugs was resting next to her table. "I thought I´d make clear that I´m not giving up on you without a fight Linny." I responded while it felt as if somebody was pouring acid down my stomach. Geez I was behaving hilarious, I rambled at myself. Compared with what happened to Sokka this was not even worth to be called a problem. She looked at me wide-eyed, for a second it seemed her features were softening. "I hope you still like them." I responded while I placed the bag on her desk and plopped myself down in one of the interrogation chairs. Lin grabbed the bag and started slurping the noodles wordlessly. I smiled and ate the noodles. Nevertheless, I could not catch up to Lin, who seemed to have abandoned her pristine table manners. She let out a burp, embarrassed placing a hand in front of her face. "Aww come on Lin, like I wouldn´t burp after a good meal." I chuckled humored. "Well – what do you want Lee." She stated matter of factly. It was like a slap in my face. I locked eyes with her, she looked away quickly. "I´m sorry for dumping you all Lin – for not keeping the promise I gave uncle Sokka." I said silent. I had failed Sokka, I had not kept the Bei Fong Family together, because I was too selfish. "And you think simply bringing dumplings and saying sorry will cut that Lee?" Lin frowned angered. "Not even Yumi would buy that from you! And I´m not all over you, no matter how shitty you look." she snarled. "Just say I´m not important and you´re just grateful that I brought your daughter home.." she added bitter. I frowned, my voice brimming with fury. "You´re lying Lin and you know that! You´re like a sister to me, so cut the bullcrap and let me explain!" I responded angrily. Her eyes went wide but she did not say a word.

"I stopped writing because Yumi got pregnant Lin, as you may have figured out. You know how dangerous pregnancy was for her. I was – just worried sick! And then she gave birth and believe me." I still shuddered at the memories. "that was the worst day of my live Lin…It almost killed her." I responded silently. "Oh." Was all Lin managed to choke out. "She did not get much better afterwards. You know, I was bawling the day she was able to walk again… after four months." I admitted. "W-Why haven´t you written, I – I would have helped you!" Lin blurted. I could just look down in shame. Yumi had not wanted it, she had insisted I would not let somebody else see her like this. "You know Yumi Lin, she didn´t want to seem weak, this proud little idiot." I responded. "She is taller than you Lee." Lin responded dryly. "Well and furthermore I had to make a living and raise a little spitfire. Sokka always has been two hands full." I responded in fatherly pride. Lin nodded smiling. "I can picture that Lee." "And yeah – as she turned seven Yumi died, and damn it Lin I – I just was busy to keep it together." I concluded. There was a wrangled sound. "Y-You´re kidding Lee. That´s the worst joke I heard in years!" Lin stated with trembling hands. I shook my head – sadly I was not kidding.

"W-Well – how do you say something like this Lin?" I rambled upset "Do you write a letter? Hey guys – my wife died, just to tell you! I – I gods." I wrought my hands. What SHOULD I say, how should I explain something I had not understood myself? Lin had risen from her leathery seat and was pacing around. She was upset, sad and maybe even angry, I thought of giving her a hug but as I rose she did not turn her head. Her breath was loud. "Please give me some space Lee." She responded, her voice brimming with emotion. I was astonished that little Linny had grown into somebody so – bottled up. The Lin I remembered could not even bottle up a bad day at work! Most likely I would destroy the fragile link I was developing if I pushed on right now. So, I just sighed. "As you wish. You know Bei Fong." I paused placing my words with the delicacy of an artist. "I´m not here to see the iron maiden… so long." I responded and left, closing the door gently. Lin loved such cultivated quirks, which was a reason why she and my little brother had worked for so long. I was barely halfway down the hallway as I heard the muffled sound of tearing metal. I shook my head, what Lin was doing was not the proper way of mourning. She had to get that herself though. Also, I had left my noodle cart long enough – I was not Kuangs Cuisine, which could open whenever the Chef wanted!

Authors note: Sorry for not updating for soo long, but attending university is work. I would like some feedback though.


	15. A path of lead

**Chapter 15 a path of lead**

He was eying the warehouse lazily, but on the inside Mako Chouw was boiling. The young man had cropped off his hair and wore a short wiry beard. His clothes ware smelling so bad that even the squirreltoads stayed away from him. His face and hands were smeared with a secret mixture of clay, ash and vinegar, also he was carrying a crumpled tincan with him. In this can a small fire was smoldering; he was roasting the remains auf a squirreltoad. Mako was bad at acting, so he usually LIVED is disguise, which made it far more realistic. He actually was sleeping in the streets for a week and so he automatically fell back in the routine of his childhood. He even owned a burned-out opium pipe now. Furthermore, he was looking so poor that not even the inhabitants of the dragonflats felt the necessity to waste more than some thrown pebbles on him. Nevertheless, he had some nasty bruises, annoying little brats!

Actually, an official had stubbed him into this direction. The man was from the earth nation, and such corruption incarnate. Nevertheless, he was a decent fellow, it was just that he didn´t know what bribing meant. Actually, Song-Il-Han was the opinion that it was an official's duty to spread information equally to the public. Song-Il-Han had explained him that somebody had opened a Manufacture precision parts in the north of the buffalo-flats, the eastern counterpart to the infamous dragon flats. The rather respectable businessman, namely Kuang Ling from Ling Enterprises had spoken of giving perspective to the socially disgraced but not evne I-Han had believed him. Mako of course had drawn conclusions, Kuang Ling emerged from the Ling family, which had gained tremendous wealth over the last thirty years. They had started up as ranch owners in the eastern earthen kingdoms. But they had invested in trains when everybody thought these things were limited to Omashu. But now these people were laying railroads all over the four nations, Mako was wondering. Maybe he would see the time were a man could travel the world in 80 days.

Still these guys had been closely related toward the old monarchy, which led to them loosing most of thein earth nation property under Kuvira. How much they had regained was out of Makos knowledge, but he was rather sure that Kuang Ling was making very profitable deals with criminals. If it were the Dai Li he was searching for was another question. Lastly it was the most promising tip he had gotten out of his various contacts. He had burned all his savings on this and so he just HAD to be lucky. He was sitting in this run-down entrance since dawn but the only suspicious things he had seen today were a lot of young watertribe girls going to work in said factory. The whole thing seemed to be rund by watertribe gals, northern gals to be precise! Nobody had less knowledge about technology than these people, and just 2 out of 10 were able to write and read properly. It seemed Mr. Ling was needing motivated hands who were not understanding what they were doing. Also, it was strange that the Terras had given heavy protection for the route these girls travelled to work. Interesting was that the soldiers did not as much as look at the girls, which was an almost unbelievable behavior for this kind of thugs. They must have gotten very strict orders, because otherwise they would at least be clapping some girls' butts.

Right now, they were in the middle of the early shift and so the steets were surprisingly dead, except for the soldiers who were playing mahjong and other board games. They weren't even carrying soju bottles. Mako was staring at the building; he could not do anything besides watching until they closed the manufacture. And even than it would be extremely risky to take a peek, mostly because they would translocate the machines as soon as they found out somebody was suspicious. Inside the whirring of engines could be heard, while a rugged looking steam engine spew whitish clouds into the heavans. The screeching sounds indicated that metal was worked without too much heat. He could not hear the typical sounds of welding or smithing the classical way. Even if the terra guys had noticed him hours ago they payed no heed to the hobo who obviously must be on a heavy trip. The women streamed out of the factory in surprisingly clean, blue overalls. These was not greasing fat, no charred spots. Yes, this definitely was a tooling factory. Mako played with the thought of abducting and questioning one of the girls on her way home but discarded the option. It was too risky if she told her protectors what happened, because they would draw conclusions. Actually, there was no path besides overpowering one of the guards on his way home or braking into the facility.

While the time was flowing by terribly slow Mako worried about Asami. He had contacted Korra after leaving and hoped the Avatar was taking care of the poor thing. There was a stinging, but jubilant feeling in his chest whenever he thought of Asami Sato. This was most likely not friendship. It was not usual to feel the urge to kiss your friends and tear their clothes off to make them feel save – right? But he had fucked it up the first time, he wouldn´t put Asami through the same kind of misery again. How should he be sure that it was not just a whim, when he was facing these feelings for less than a month? Also, he wondered if he just "loved" Asami because she was weak and battered now, somebody who needed a strong shoulder to keep her upright. What would happen if she became the independent, strong person she had been three years ago? Would he still love her? Would he be able to deal with something like that? He blinked as the sun shone in his eyes.

He had counted the workers, twenty-eight per shift, so it seemed. Mako resumed his musings about Asami, he was wondering if there was something between them. Asami liked him, and sometimes she had touched his shoulders, or his arm. She had done so when it was not necessarily polite to do so, and that was a rather direct hint in his opinion. Asami was no particularly cuddly woman after all! Am I imagining things? That was the question that burned in his head and made his chest ache. His eyes focused as he realized that the doors of the Warehouse were opened again. Most of the triad men had left the street and walked up to the man who was lazily leaning against the open door. He was tall and wiry. His hair was shortly cut in military style. He also was wearing a well-fitting green suit, while his whole pose radiated danger. He was the kind of man that made grown thugs cower, even the chest huffing terras behaved like well-bred coonies and hastily started carrying heavy crates out of the warehouse. With rattling engines vans appeared in the street. Because the street here was nothing but compressed dirt wheels stirred up dust clouds that made Makos eyes go teary, he also coughed furiously.

The men were yelling. "Get moving assholes." Some man yelled. "Careful with the babies, that´s some dangerous shit in there!" somebody else snarled angered. "Y-Yes SIR!" a thug responded. The cars were still running as the dust cleared and Mako was able to see something. They were dark delivery vans without the typical republic plates. Since no other nation had number plates for their cars this was not making anything easier. Also, people form outside Republic city were not bound to use the plates so they weren´t helpful at all. Finally, the vans were filled with crates, the doors closed and the vehicles moved again, dust shrouding them in a brow cloud. The men were furiously coughing, while the guy in the green suit had already disappeared. The Terras closed the doors and wrapped heavy chains around the gates, then they gathered in a crowd. Laughter and curses could be heard at most of them walked away, just two obviously pissed guys remaining besides the doors. Makos heart sped up. This was far too good an opportunity to be true. Or had his disguise been spotted and they were setting up a trap?

His eyes darted around, while his backside was prickling from a whole days' worth of sitting on hard stairs. He tried to rise but his legs knotted themselves as he was tumbling around like a drunkard. He was wheezing because his legs weren´t reacting properly and felt like lifeless clay. The feeling would come back fast enough he hoped. The thugs of course hat noticed the stumbling man, who was cursing under his breath. They started laughin. "Eh idiot – walk on yer hands and I´ll give ya a shim." One of them offered. "Come on Shin, don´t screw with mooneaters, you know what poor wenches they are. Just look at my ma." The other guy responded in false pity. "Yer Ma´s a wench but surely not poor – moon, free cocks each day – man being a woman must be awesome." The guys shared a hearty laugh. Mako tumbled around, while his legs slowly regained their usual feeling. The thugs obviously were bored and so they swaggered in his direction. The street was empty, not that anyone would have bothered if these guys cut his throat right now.

"Eh hobo, you´ve got some moon for us heh?" the broad-shouldered terra enforcer asked. His underling, slightly slimmer built, was smirking deviously. "Uh – oh I don´t have some flowers – wouldn´t I be stoned right now if I had?" Mako whined. He was good at playing a coward. The Underling chuckled. "Bad for you, guess I´ll just kick the stuff outta you." He responded and stomped on the floor, a cobblestone rose and cracked. The remains of it forming rough gloves. "Hey- hey sorry sir. I´m sorry. Please spare me!" Mako yelled. He needed time, a bit more time until his legs were stable again. "Why should I spare a worthless shithead like you. Nobody´s gonna care when you go whoops fucktard." He laughed and delivered a front kick. Mako stumbled and hit the floor. He yelped even if the fall itself did not hurt. "get up asshole. It´s a shitty warm night to wear armor." The guy yelled and kicked at him Again. Makos Chi simmered trough his chest. Strength, fire was surging through his arm as he gripped the guys boot and brought him on the floor with a leg swipe. The other man snarled "you sonuva…" Mako barreled into the guy's stomach head first. His feet still a bit numb. He gripped his thights, lifted the man and slammed him onto the ground.

His muscles were tensing under the tattered robes. He rolled aside as cobblestones were smashing on the street. The earth bender was not bad, but lacked the strength of a real bender. He was a fighter though. Mako was grazed by a sharp rocky egde. His upper arm hurt as he closed the distance between himself and the guy. He muscles were tensed as a stonepillar shot up and shook his whole frame as it embedded itself in his chest. He nevertheless struck. His hands forcefully closing off the veins leading into his opponent's head. The Man went down. Mako evaded a low kick of the enforcer who hit the pillar at full force. His shin broke with a loud, splintering sound. The man crashed as he tried to follow Mako. His bone sticking out of his leg. He yelled in pain. Makos heavy boots hit his head forceful. He could not even yell as he fell unconscious. His comrade tried to get back up but the younger Man grabbed his head and smashed it onto the rocks. Even though the Rocks cracked he smashed him back into unconsciousness. Mako feverishly searched the pockets of the men. He undressed the bender and changed the clothes, then he took the money they carried along with the key to the warehouse.

A hobo totally would steal from a man he overpowered, the guys should not even think that he had taken a peak in the warehouse. He then tied them up with their own sashes. He had to be fast. He ran over to the warehouse and opened the heavy padlock hanging between the chain links. He opened the door and slipped inside, lighting a small flame in his hand. There was the small of steel in the air. He looked around, the shabby warehouse looked like a brand-new production line of Asami´s just that it was much smaller. He took a closer look at a belt grinder. He was not surprised to find the stamp of future industries. Also, the new lathes looked suspiciously like the stolen ones. Mako was looking for unusual parts, but he just found some strangely shaped wooden parts which almost looked like the shaft of a crossbow. Well, that WAS what he was searching. He had been right. These Dai Li obviously HAD found what they were searching for. Most likely they just wanted to sag in future industries as well… He muttered a curse. He would need help to get these people dealt with, he would need everybody he could get in the short time window he had.

So, he hurried outside and locked the doors again, he even fastened the padlock at the same place. He returned to the still unconscious men and threw the key on the street, then he hurried off. The young man had just disappeared in a side alley as he heard a roaring satomobile approach. Soon afterwards loud yelling started. Puh – he had been lucky and so he aimed for airtemple island. Maybe Korra knew some people who could help him. Maybe Bo would lend him a hand, though he highly doubted that. Maybe Tenzin could lend him the money to hire bounty hunters, that the chairman could do. Or, no it would be better if he went to Asami. Yes – if Asami could catch the terrorist even she had to admit she "redeemed" herself, right? Damn it, his belly hurt. As the adrenaline was leaving his veins he felt the impact of the stonepillar, as he felt the searing pain of the shallow cut in his arm. Damn those bastards. Mako strode on fast, he ignored the sweat that was streaming over his back, he breathed roughly and needed to halt for a few times.

Sato mansion was located outside of Republic city. Since the City had grown around the once famed Kantu Hills, the rich and mighty had translocated to the shoreline south of republic city. Shibara Beach was nothing less than a line of palaces, so to speak. The houses there were the most luxurious in the world, so Mako thought, and of course Sato Manison was located there. He never found out if Asami kept the Manison because it was exspectet of her or because she really did love it´s exclusive features. He himself actually felt uncomfortable in the gigantic house with it´s parklike garden. For a steetkid like him it was something almost otherworldly, even if he had been there often. Luckily Shibara was not protected by patrolling securities. Because of the even larger lawns the people employed their own, private secutiry, which was as heavily armed as the police. The coast street that wound ints way towards the fishing villages spread around Republic City was brand new, made with something the firenationers called tar. It was something that remained in the course of fuel production, if Mako recalled correctly, now in the summery heat the blackish stuff was so hot it would burn your feet if you walked barefooted.

Still the street was highly frequented by fish-traders and workers, who streamed into the city from the outlying villages. So even a badly dressed man like Mako could walk here without being arrested, or torn apart by reindeerdogs and catogators. Mako had reached the estates of the industrial bigshots, which hid behind solid walls and fences, which looked like they were erected to protect cities. Furthermore, the mansions were shrouded by small groves. Interestingly the parks were roamed by large amounts of small spirits, which had gained quite the bit of popularity due to their cuteness. Even now some kind of chickenlike, pink fluffball ways following Mako with huffing movements that somehow resembled a bouncing rubberball. He himself could not feel something besides creepiness looming in these gigantig, green eyes. "Hush – just get lost." He grumbled while fastening his stride. Luckily the little spirit soon lost its interest in Mako, it jumped into the basket a young woman was carrying. The girl of course started cooing the little thing. Mako finally spotted the familiar, almost twenty feet high brick wall, which separated Sato Manison from the rest of the world.

He walked up to the door and rung the electrical bell. Asami had all kind of cutting edge technology implemented in her home, the bell was just the beginning. A gatekeeper left the small cabin and looked though the platinum-bars of the gate. "Good evening, I´m Mako Chouw." Mako stated the obvious, even if he looked dirty he still looked like himself. The man frowned at his short scruffy looking beard. "You actually are. What happened to you Mr. Chouw?" the man asked him. Mako had never asked him for his name, he now realized. "Oh – job happened, you know. I have to speak with Miss Sato as fast as possible." He responded almost too eager. The man furrowed his brows. "I´ll announce you." He responded and returned into the cabin. "Miss Sato does not want to see you." The man responded. What? Mako grit his teeth, why was Asami acting childish just when he needed her to behave like an adult for ONCE! She had had so many other opportunities where she could have behaved childish all she wanted! "Sir, this is urgent. I need Miss Sato´s help, it´s about a project of her father." He played his trump card.

"Orders are orders Mr. Chouw. I can´t make an exception for you – I need this job!" the gatekeeper replied scratching his head. "I know my boss is giving strange orders in the last couple of days, but that doesn´t change the fact I have to obey them." He responded. Mako was fuming. "And if Asami said you should jump from the lighthouse you would - or what?" he snarled. "Come on, that´s just a pathetic excuse, furthermore I could return with a badge and a hand full of constables. You´re just doing Miss Sato a favor." He grumbled. The gatekeeper smugly twirled his mustache. "Could you?" he shot back. "Good Mr. Chouw. I could simply send you away and overhear somebody climbing the wall in front of the second yellow rhododendron, where the iron spikes shall be changed tomorrow…" the man trailed of while approaching the gate. "Of course that is just possible if something would dull my ears." He smiled innocently. That sly bastard – Mako cursed inwardly. But he knew that Asami had a bunch of security men that could deal with him. And if the gatekeeper called them things would turn ugly if she really did not want to see him. Mako sighed and pulled out the stolen money. "I guess I found your purse on the street. You really need to watch your money better old man." He responded dryly. The gatekeeper smiled.

"Ooh there it is, and I searched it since this morning. Thank you so much Mr. Chouw. You really are an honorable man." The servant praised him. Hypocritical asshole, Mako grumbled under his breath as he walked along the smooth brick wall. Mako flexed his fingers, seven years ago this wall would have been a piece of cake for him but since his cursed accident things looked differently. His right hand could fail at any time, also he had not trained his fingers properly. Why should he? He wasn´t a burglar anymore, so he simply could use doors! "Agni bless me." He sighed, while he started breathing rhythmically. In and out, in an out – while his inner flame started flaring up. He wove his arms and jumped, four jets of hissing orange flames scorching the ground. The flames propelled him upwards, while his strength was seeping out of his arms, ten feet, fifteen feet – and finally e hovered above the wall. There indeed were no iron spikes and so he could grab a hold as he let his flames go and dragged himself over the wall. He jumped down, while fire hissed out of his limbs. Nevertheless, the impact was bone rattling, also he smelled burnt leaves. The beautifully blooming bush in front of him looked quite scorched. Mako coughed and left the bush fast. He then walked towards the mansion. Two of the securities were sitting on a bench besides the big koi pond.

They were wearing electrocuting rods and heavy platinum armors. Each suit costed a small fortune – Mako knew that first hand. He had tried to buy such a thing for work! "Hey." He greeted cheerfully. The men looked up and nodded in his direction, being a security usually was boring as fuck, especially with somebody like Asami. The girl never had taken a bodyguard with her, so the whole job was about protecting a meticulously trimmed lawn and a modern palace! And since Mako had visited often lately the guys weren´t even annoying him with questions. He simply could enter the front doors of the mansion, which wasn´t even locked up. As he entered the pompous looking entry Mako felt even shabbier than before – he really was out of place here! Mako got out of his dirty boots and was disgusted by the smell of his own feet. He looked around because he should find a servant. Otherwise he could spend some hours on searching Asami, who was somewhere in this huge house. And since she most likely wanted to avoid him he could not solve the problem with yelling.

He decided to enter the blue saloon, where Asami usually waited for her guests. Most likely her butler would hang out there, because he thought this room to be his living room. Mako entered and indeed the old man almost jumped from the blue couch, placing the small book on the table without making a noise. He frowned at the poorly clad intruder. "Who in the heavens…" he started angry and walked up to Mako. As he approached him he noticed the familiar features. "Oh…Mr. Chouw – you´re welcome!" he greeted politely bowing. "You need a bath and some – befitting – clothes." The old man responded and gripped Makos robes. "Tang.." he started. "No buts – Miss Sato doesn´t want to see you Mr. Chouw. If I were to ignore your entry you have to look different from a common thug." The man responded firmly. Mako groaned "Tang – it´s about the squirelltoad – I need Asami´s help – NOW! I don´t have time to play dress up!" he hissed. The butler did not even react – stoic old bastard! He simply tugged on his sleeve like an impatient brat! Mako rolled his eyes – even if the old geezer wanted make him to take a pedicure that would take less time than searching the whole mansion for himself! This thing had close to seventy rooms, after all.

Tang led him towards the service elevator. The drove up and he was lead into one of the guest baths, where the old man poured him a bath and hurried of to get some clothes. Mako threw away his clothes and dove into the warm tingling bath that was good for his worn body. His stomach had turned into the colors of the rainbow, even sitting up hurt like hell. Luckily there was nothing broken he thought while clenching his teeth. He scrubbed himself with the sweet-smelling lavender soap. The water turned a muddy brownish color. He then rose from the bath, toweled himself and waited for Tan, who indeed returned with a well-fitting amber robe. Mako usually disliked robes, because he was a trousers man – but for now he would deal with it. Asami loved him wearing robes, because he looked like a "permanently pissed fairytale prince" she had stated once. "Why the heck do you have my sizes Tang?" he asked frowning. The old butler replied "I´m not authorized to answer this kind of personal questions Mr. Chouw." Then he again took the lead.

Hey walked upstairs until they reached Asamis working room. The mansion still looked rather- torn up – with wall claddings missing and stuff laying around everywhere. "Miss Sato is in there – I advise you not to make any ruckus." The butler deadpanned. "I´ll try – it´s not me who is making a ruckus nowadays Tang." He responded sighing. For a short second there was sadness and understanding in the old man´s eyes. "Please don´t be too harsh to the young mistress Mr. Chouw." He pleaded. Makos arm twitched. He could not promise something like this – it seemed Asami needed to get some sense slapped back into her messed up head. But otherwise, Mako Chouw had never been less sure on what to do. Well at least he could not remember an occasion. He gathered his strength and entered the room. Asami was wearing loosely cut white kimono and looked out of the window. "Tang – please leave me alone. I have to prepare myself for the arrest." She responded with a melancholic voice.

Arrest? Mako´s heart beat spiked. What hat she done to herself again? He just closed the distance. "What kind of arrest?" he asked worried. Asami tensed. "Why did Lin do this to you – couldn´t she send somebody else?" Asami asked sad and turned. Mako gasped. She looked beautiful, like some ethereal beauty straight of a tragic fairy tale. She was looking, content – and that was frightening him! But her eyes were so sad it pierced his chest. "There IS no arrest Asami! Chief Bei Fong would never arrest somebody just because she LOVES BEING IN JAIL and accusing herself of crimes!" he snarled furiously and gripped her shoulders, not caring that his fingers dug into soft skin.

"Just stop whining and accusing yourself of things YOU COULD NOT HAVE PREVENTED!" he growled. Asamis eyes widened. "M-Mako. I – I must face my punishment." She babbled. "I- must – die. The- The people…" She stated with tears running down her cheeks. Die – Mako stood there fazed. His mouth opened and closed as he tried to process what his friend had said. Then he snapped and did something he never had done before. He slapped Asami across the face. Her head rocketed back and she yelled in pain, as did he. His hand was throbbing, and the young woman's cheek was a blazing red in an instant. His chest was heaving as he started yelling in worry and anger. "What the FUCK are you thinking Asami. Like hell I´ll let you commit suicide. Don´t you give a fuck about me? Do you like to hurt me and Korra and everyone else? Stop talking about yourself like you are some worthless scum!" he blurted as Asami looked at him openmouthed, she even forgot to clasp her burning cheek. "You´re a beautiful woman and I was an idiot for cheating on you - ok. Despise me if you want just - SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT KILLING YOURSELF!" he rambled while his chest was heaving.

He still went on "I don´t know anyone who´s giving to the poor as much as you do. I don´t know anybody more loyal to her friends– these fuckwads just wanted to make a point Asami. They just wanted to BE SURE that you´ve gotten no newer plans than they already stole! They ALREADY HAD your dads plans! And now I´ve found their manufacture I promise you that I´ll show no mercy!" he stated with icy fury simmering in his chest. "Y-You found – them?" Asami croaked, her eyes shining in a determination Mako had deemed lost. "Yes, but I need your help Asami, I need all help I can get. I´m on vacation, I´ve got no evidence besides testimony. But I will not let them get away!" Mako babbled with a brimming voice. Asami gulped, then she wrapped herself around the young man with an almost hulking strength. She felt bony, but nevertheless she was really strong, Mako had to grit his teeth because his stomach hurt as she pressed herself against him harshly. Asami was shaking like a leaf, but obviously, she was too stubborn to cry.

He Nails were digging in his back unpleasantly, nevertheless he was totally overwhelmed by her slightly flowery scent. Mako shook his head. "Why- are you having so much faith in me?" she asked silently as she finally softened her iron grip. Mako sighed in relief, now he would not have minded to hold her. Before he thought anything through he sputtered and released her. "Cause you never let me down Asami! If I hadn´t faith in you I couldn´t have faith in myself!" he stated as if it was something perfectly normal. "You-I´ve not deserved this." She mumbled with a small voice. Than her face hardened and for the first time since her father's death Mako saw the old Asami. Her green eyes were cold as she rose her chin with the unparalleled grace of the rich. "Of course I will help you Mako. These men must be put down. I will not risk monsters like these committing crimes again." She nodded solemn.

Putting them down. Mako gulped. Asami was right, these men would try to escape jail for the rest of their lives, and they would not stop until the earthen army had the terrifying weapons they wielded themselves. And then there would be war again. No, he would not let that happen! "Do you have mercenaries on you hand Asami?" he asked, Mako knew perfectly well that they needed far more than team Avatar – if Korra was willing to help. Mako had done his research about the Avatar, what he found was rather disturbing. The only Avatar who ever had killed somebody in cold blood had been Kusanagi, and she had died the same night under horrible spasms! To him it was clear – an Avatar COULD not kill – Raava did not allow it. Asami frowned "No – I don´t deal with mercenaries Mako, just because I`m rich I…" she huffed until she smiled humored. Mako facepalmed himself. "I apologize Asami. I´m an Idiot, but I´m starving, thirsty and have not slept for two days straight." He responded his arm still was twitching occasionally. Asami blinked. "Mako…what were you idiot doing? No don´t even babble some bullcrap… Sit down here. I´ll get you some food." She scolded him like a little boy who had done something stupid. Mako felt a warmth spread through his chest as Asami left the room. He could not even remember when a woman had brought him some food.

Korra had never done it, and if he recalled correctly this also was a first time for Asami. He sat in the chair, while his mind was thinking busily. He was weighing options – the only promising option was Chief Bei Fong in his opinion. Tenzin would never agree to killing these bastards. His children also were out of question, they were children! Mako would not drag Bo Lin into this, his brother was a married man now. Also, he had too soft a heart for a job like this, which finally eliminated Korra. Despite her powers she could not go along with what had to be done. Maybe Mr. Lee would help – he had been a cop and a rather tough one at that. That was what Captain Hungshu had told him, and Mako was rather sure that his Cap would be eager to join the squad along with one or two of his colleagues. Asami returned with a bowl in her hands. She pressed it into Makos hands, he enjoyed the touch of her soft skin almost as much as he enjoyed the milk he downed hastily. Asami chuckled. "Hm?" the young man snorted.

"You´ve got a milk beard." She responded. "I never thought a beard would suit you Mako." She added seriously. Mako ran his hands through the black hair that covered his face. "To call that mess a beard… I´m horrified Miss Sato." He snickered and sighed. "I was thinking about options – the two of us won´t even have a chance against these guys. They have hired half a terra chapter, the really nasty guys." Mako responded. Asami frowned angrily. "Bad news – but can´t we pick these dudes off on by one? Do you know where they are living?" she asked. Mako shook his head. Sadly, he did not, but he feared his cover had been blown, so he had not time to find that out. "No, I doubt they are living anywhere fixed. But I know that they transport their daily production in the evening, which means we have a time window of half an hour." He explained.

"I am going to pull the Chief and Cap Hungshu in the boat, maybe Mr. Lee, he´s an ex-cop." He responded. "What´s about Korra? She´s the Avatar Mako." Asami responded "And I would like her at my back. Even though she might not be ok with – our job." The young woman responded grimly. "Which is the reason, why I won´t bring her in trouble, she is family." Mako growled protectively. Asami lowered her gaze. "But you said we needed power Mako – I can set some money out for bounty hunters, or gangers but these guys might turn against us and sack in the weapons. And I highly doubt my security forces are in for something of this magnitude." She responded. "I don´t have connection to people like the golden shirshu´s or other big shots in that trade!" Asami responded helplessly. "I just wanted to sell things that make people's lives better." She clenched her fists and seated herself opposite to Mako. I had to be hard on her, Mako was admiring the strength his friend displayed. Had he grown up in such a golden cage, he would have been broken a long, long time ago. But it seemed Asami was- better at least.

Mako looked at his scarred hand, he had to ask himself some questions about duty. Was it his duty to obey the law, or was it his duty to do justice? He was sure that he could kill a man, but could Asami live with killing a person? He did not doubt that she could do it, but that was just the smallest step. "Asami – are you willing to kill Colonol Chun?" he asked her. "I don´t mind if you are not." He added. He could hear the sound of grinding teeth. "Oh-hell yes Mako." She responded. "An believe me – I´m making some calls right now. And you Mr. tough ass copper lay down and sleep." She responded. "I´ve slept good this night, also I´m going to dress myself properly." She responded and patted his head. Mako fought a blush- patting his head, was he a five-year old?!


	16. A day off

**Chapter sixteen: A day off**

I had trained like a madman for the last two weeks, as far as training was possible for a noodleman. I now always rode in the smallest gear, without loosing much of my speed and my breath was becoming deeper, like it had been in my youth. It felt good and I got rid of the last remains of fat, which meant I had abs again. My daughter would have just rolled her eyes in annoyance but I now considered myself a damn hot, old geezer! It still was baffling what a tough cookie little Sokka was. One day after the terrifying republic all schools night she had taken a walk home and visited her friends. She also introduced me to the rather charming young women, who obviously were disturbed meeting a man as small as myself. No wonder, the watertribe blokes topped my height at fifteen. Since I had made quite some yuans I could take a day off.

To be honest I was thinking about dragging a certain Chief away from her desk for once. Since Sokka was attending her work at sato electronics I had the time to hang out with Lin, also I would have a rather formidable sparring partner. The more effort I put into training the more I thought that teaching Tenzin a lesson was kind of pointless. Nevertheless, I was furious at the guy. He could have at least distanced himself from Lin, who without a doubt would have moved on a LOT faster if he had done so. I made my way to the headquarters, where Lao was offering his tea. The dude really opened his stall seven days a week, which was something I would never be able to pull for months. Yeah – it was more than a month I had spent in Republic. I was wondering what Mako was doing, the young officer had not visited my stall for four days. Usually he was taking at least one meal a day from my woks. He obviously hated cooking, like most men did!

I had not prepared food for once, Lin most likely would be disappointed – that lazy gal actually relied on my daily lunch service. I greeted some of the officers and passed the public areas of the head-quarters, which were bustling with angered citizens, arrested merchants and bored old men. I found my way towards Lins office without thinking, stopped and knocked. "Come in." she grumbled obviously annoyed. I still was nervous. Even though Lin had never brought up the Yumi topic again she treated me different. She was – caring, which was rather sweet. Also, she did not even raise her voice against my intrusions anymore, in fact she seemed to like them. "Hey Lin. So what´s up?" I asked her, prepairing myself for her usual rambling. Chief Bei Fong stared at a young officer who looked at me like a scared pigchicken. Her eyes narrowed. "Officer Song. Just FIX these problems with the pickpockets around Soho-square. I do not tolerate any more excuses. You understand?" Lin paused and than suddenly yelled at the flinching man. "You corrupt cow-swine keep yourself in line, or I promise you I´ll make you go to prison!" she looked murderous, I gulped. The guy almost wetted himself.

" Ma am." He stammered. Lins cable shout through the air, wrapped itself around the guy's neck and dragged him from his seat. He was choking. "C-Chief – please." He gargled, as a trembling Lin released him. "Get the hell out before I forget which side of the law I´m on!" She growled furious. The man fled with a clanking armour, I tensed my muscles and dug my shoulder in his side. The man tumbled and crashed on his knee. He did not even curse as he hurried outside with tears streaming over his cheeks and clenched fists. "Guess I just came on time." I responded. Lin was cursing in the barely understandable dialect of her mother's hometown. He poor desk suffered again as her fingers sank themselves into the steel. "Gods damn it Lee. I know Song takes money from whatever bastards he meets. But I can´t throw him out cause I would´ve to throw out half the force! Not even I can do that." She blurted, her face set an angry scowl. "Lin, you can´t save the world. Corruption is a part of life. As long as these guys don´t close their eyes about murder and rape – be glad." I responded honestly. She huffed. "What? I these bastards swore an oath – like I did Lee. I – I GAVE EVERYTHING FOR THIS SHITTY OATH!" she yelled and hit the table. The metal deformed with a screeching sound. I lowered my head.

Who was I to say something against that. I too had failed my oath, even if I had liked it far more than her. But she had held it, like granite – I could picture that. That made me feel small and – dirty, very small and dirty. She caught herself. "Sorry Lee – I just got mad." She apologized after a short silence. I snorted , " really? If somebody has to apologize it´s me Lin. I´m the one who screwed the oath for some happy family." I responded. "Not that I regret it." I added silently. Lin stared at me wide-eyed, then happy memories flooded her mind. "Oh yeah – mom was terribly furious as you and Yumi did not return from the firenation." There was a soft smile dancing around her lips. "Uncle Sokka just laughed and told her you were smarter than they would ever be…oww she threw half the living room after him." Lin chuckled. "They were so hilarious! But they really had something, y´know." her eyes looked melancholic. I nodded in consent. They truly had been a rather strange ying and yang, but nevertheless they had made a whole – which was the only thing that counted. "Do you know where your mom went? After uncle Sokka died." I asked her. There was some kind of unresolved issue dancing across Lin´s face. "Yeah – she sorts of travelled the world. And – settled down in a swamp. My mother of all people! But somehow she always kept track on us." She responded with a sigh. "I really don´t want to dwell on this stuff Lee, my mom – it´s complicated." She responded "Well – I should work." She sighed. "Aren´t you hungry?" I teased. Lin snorted and shook her head. "Since you didn´t bring something I´m not hungry." She responded slightly annoyed, seated herself and took up her pen. I just tore the little wooden thing out of her hands and snapped it in two.

"Hey." Lin grabbed my robes harshly but could not drag my any further. "You- Chief Bei Fong – need a day off." I stated frowning and poked her collarbone. Lin just started rambling. "You´ve seen how things go when I´m not around! I´m not some noodle selling lady who just has time as she pleases!" she griped. "I´ve got a duty Lee, so just get the fuck out of my office and let me do what I usually do!" She shoved me but I just had to take a step backwards. "I don´t need holidays – cause somebody has to achieve something, I´ve got criminals to catch - I – I just can´t take a day off, I´d just love it but.." she babbled almost hysterically. I knew this voice – I had talked like that after Yumi gave birth. But luckily my wife had kicked me out of my boots sometimes. I really was thankful for her doing it, despite her miserable condition. "You can´t work nonstop Linny, you know that as well as I do. I don´t want you to get mad, or ill – so please accompany me, you stubborn idiot!" I stated in my best Yumi voice, while pressing my hands on her papers. It seemed like all fight had poured out of Lin at that moment, she looked like a schoolgirl that got scolded.

"Pff – annoying shorty." Lin huffed powerless and walked to the door. "I´m changing." She stated. I noticed that I still was taller than her by a thumb. I stifled a rather unfriendly comment and followed her. We walked downstairs. "So – what are we going to do with this unpleasantly hot day." I responded smiling. Lin actually was a summer person, how people could like this dry heat, that turned you into a sizzling steak, was something I would never understand. Lin stood there blinking. She obviously had no Idea what she could do with her free time. "Well umm…I don´t know." She responded stammering. She felt really uncomfortable and realized that something with her life definitely was not right. "Then let´s head to the beach." I responded, of course I did not refer to the muddy thing that was called Yue bay. If you walked for around three hours the beaches still were clean, which did not mean the same as empty. "O-Ok." Lin responded and headed off, I could hear an edge in her voice, most likely she was not comfortable hanging out around so many people. But hell if I cared! "Ah Chief Bei Fong." An officer caught up to her. "I´ve made recent progress in the Yamatetsu case. Would you like to get your briefing now, cause my Son has a school competition tomorrow?" He asked Lin.

"Y…" I just elbowed her harshly, it was rather unpleasant to bury my elbow in armor. "No – briefing as always – no exceptions officer." She responded and walked on as if the man had disappeared. The cop was staring at us with wide eyes. I could hear the gossip picking up speed right now, not that it mattered to me. "You know where Chouw is hanging out? The guy didn´t visit my stall for four days straight – which is totally strange." I asked her. Lin frowned. "He´s on an investigation, so no I don´t have a clue what he is doing Lee. Mako is quite- special- in his investigation methods. But he´s excellent at his job." She explained. There was a proud glint in her eyes. "I don´t doubt that Lin – the Kid´s got too much sticks in his ass though, just like his boss." I quipped while Lin struck my upper arm. I let out an annoyed snort as the pain shot through my muscles. She had learned to throw a punch, that was for certain. "Shut up – I don´t need to be lectured by a noodle selling runaway!" she rambled, not very convincing. "Yes, Miss clanky-clank." I responded. Lin hated pet names, like her mother, who of course had called her daughter Miss Clancy-clank first!

Actually she was frowning while whipping her head around. "And by the way Lee – how have you thought of arriving at a beach where you can take a bath. Before sunset!" she deadpanned and wiggled her eyebrows. It was kind of disturbing to see how much Lin had taken after her mother. Not that I thought this a bad change though. Actually, I had not thought about anything, mostly because I expected Lin to visit a museum or the gallery of four nations. "You should own a car Lin?" I asked her dryly. Somebody as fancy rich as Lin surely owned a car. A ghost of a smile was dancing over her lips. "Really Lee, just how old are you again? Yes, I have a car… but YOU should be driving ME!" she stated snippy. I quirked an eyebrow. "Cause you´re a girl, or what? In your dreams Linny." I responded smirking. "But I could ask Bumi – I guess he would love to take his polar bear marauder to the beach." I added in thought. "N-NO YOU DON´T!" Lin responded loudly. Some of her officers were eying us suspiciously as we entered the bunks. It was a nostalgic feeling, nothing seemed to have changed in the buildings.

"Why are we…" I just now realized that Lin obviously was living somewhere here, so I closed my mouth "Oh." Lin frowned again. "What´s so Oh worthy Bei Gao?" she quipped. "That you´re living like a simple officer, when you´ve got like millions of yuans? "I responded amazed. Lin shook her head. "I don´t – Su got it all after mother left. I was never that interested in money." She responded. I actually felt disturbed. "That´s big of you Lin – really big." I nodded. Most people were greedy, to simply give up a legacy that would make on to some of the richest persons in one´s nation – that was quite something. "And Su burned almost all of it in her little project named Sao Fu." Lin shrugged. "That city out of steel – quite fancy if you ask me." I responded. Lin sighed. "The architecture is – just urgh Lee -I get the chills thinking about it! A windowless, lotus like dome! Please – is this thing a jail or what?" Lin griped. "And the streets are narrow, the sewers permanently overflowing – and oh my sis lives in a palace like the earth queen!" she added griping.

"So Sao Fu is the incarnation of ugly!" she responded seriously. I chuckled at her fury, it seemed the iron maiden finally started to crack that shell she had built. "But Su had a good cook." She admitted. We again had to climb to the highest peak of the bunks. "You really like heights, do you?" I stated as Lin opened a door. "Yes – they´re calming." Lin responded softly "Also I´d love to be able to fly like you, or Tenzin." She stated. Flying – me? I almost followed her into her room as the door banged shut in front of my nose. Ups- right, she was changing. Flying - actually I never had thought about that. Sure, I could make myself a glider but, why should I? People would just be staring, also I never had been thrilled by the thought. Driving a racecar was something I would find much more thrilling. I wondered what Lin was doing inside her room – Yumi never had needed half the time to change or even dress up!

I knocked. "Lin – what the hell are you doing in there?" I rumbled. "Shut up Lee, there´s something called make up – women wear it! How come that you don´t know about it, no say nothing!" she barked through the door. Make up? But we were just visiting the beach, who the fuck needed makeup for this? I just rolled my eyes and sighed – luckily Sokka had no such antics. Finally, Lin opened the door. "So – you´re finally done." I sighed. "I am." She responded grumpily, she had changed her ink paste from red to green. Also, she really had taken makeup, it looked like done by some professional. Actually, she was rather stunning for a woman her age. "You´re on the prowl for some school boys? Or is there some guy you´ve called from your secret phone?" I was asking with a teasing smile. Lin actually giggled at that, it was a rather high sound for somebody with a full voice like herself. Geez – she still flushed at anything directed into horizontal direction. That woman was worse than me since – many years. "Please Lee. I´m fourty-nine. As if I would try to seduce young men." She snorted.

"Well – you could, seducing men is rather easy! And you´re not looking half bad." I stated dryly. "That´s the reason you all are bastards." Lin piped up. "Thank you for the flowers milady." I snickered, while we headed downstairs again. It really was tempting to invite Bumi – with him around everybody was much happier. The guy just always had funny ideas, even though he could be really tiring in the long run. Bumi actually had tried to talk me into forming a men´s den with him an Ping. That actually was a really terrifying thought. Now just he and Mr. Hungshu were moving in together, since he had already dumped Lau Mi. They just were friends now, if I recalled correctly. "So you really want to hit the beach without anybody – else?" I asked seriously, I could imagine that Lin really wanted to meet some other friends, if she finally took a day off. She hesitated. "Well – uhm. How about screwing all this... I -I just am really tired and." Lin started babbling.

I just gripped her arm. "No – you´re not hiding yourself in that room." I responded sternly. "I just wanted to make sure you´re having fun Lin." I added. She did not reply to this and walked on. She wore loose, green pants, and a rather fashionable top. I was wondering how she could be so well informed about fashion – my daughter would wear this kind of things after all. Of course, I had not bought something as strange as a swimsuit – these modern, rubbery things just looked hilarious! I followed Lin behind the bunks and arrived in the parking lot. The most cars were Satomobile Cs, the cheapest and most sold car in the entire world. Nevertheless, I could not imagine Lin driving something so - plump. Indeed, she owned a rather expensive car – a sixteen-cylinder dragon sentry II. The long-hooded car displayed elegant, flowing curves and still was an opponent to much younger and more advanced motorized cars. "Is that Sokka`s car?" I asked wondering. Lin nodded, almost blushing.

"Well – umm it was working and…." I just chuckled. Lin also laughed at her rather childish behavior. While I seated myself on the left, she started the engine, it was an exquisite blubbering sound. Driving towards the beach nevertheless was far from amusing. Republic city was facing the same problems that each big city of the four nations faced – traffic jams. The streets had been made for carts, ostrich horse driven carts – not for armadas of cars! But since there was more metal on the streets than in the united forces, of course every idiot thought it wise to go shopping by car! Damn you Sato Model C! Actually, we were stuck amidst these unaesthetic, stinking things while the fans were howling in front of me. Furthermore, it was so hot I was steaming, and Lin did not fare much better. "Yeah – that was a great Idea Lee." She grumbled, while staring forward. A little boy was trying to scramble on the car´s roof. He jelped as he burned himself on the hot metal. My enthusiasm had dulled and I too was of the opinion that moving at the speed of turtle snails was annoying. "Well – um I hadn´t expected this?" I responded weakly.

"Why the hell are these people here? Don´t they have work to do?" Lin asked genuinely puzzled. "It´s summer holidays Lin? The whole upper-class is fleeing into their cottages in the countryside?" I quirked my eyebrow. Lin just stared at me. "Oh – it´s already the month of the snake?" she blinked. "The third to be precise." I sighed. "But since we´re sitting in this car without anything to do, we could share some stories." I mused. "People tell you´re quite the hero Lin." I responded smirking. She just snorted annoyed. "I´m not my mother Lee, I don´t like bragging about things." She bickered. "I was not talking about bragging Lin. Just if you wanted to get something off your chest. I for example don´t really know if I should be angry at future industries or not." I stated. Indeed, there were mixed feelings in my chest if I thought about Lau An and the mining company. Lin wrinkled her eyebrows. "Future industries? What do you have to do with Asami Sato? Nothing personal Lee, but you´re totally not her type." Lin responded. She KNEW Asami Sato? Well, if I thought about this it was to be expected, since Lin was a Bei Fong. I chuckled, as if I had spoken a word with a rich businesswoman like Asami Sato!

"Of course, I don´t have business with Miss Sato Lin – I don´t know if I would recognize her if she was standing in front of me. But a sub company of future industries is digging mines in Lau An." I told, actually I could not keep my anger out of my voice. "And these buggers just hired triad scumbags to claim the land people didn´t want to sell." Lin let out a strange, almost squeaking sound. "What!" she quickly added "Asami has nothing to do with this Lee, if the girl knew about what her subordinates were doing she would…" she started defending Asami Sato with much vigor. She blinked.

"D-does that mean your house is?" she looked at me, actually I had to blink as she eyed me with pitiful green eyes. I turned. "Heavens Lin – BRAKE!" I yelled as the car almost embedded its snout in a sato mobile long bed and I was roughly yanked forwards. "Idiots- don´t let your bitch drive if she can´t bring it." Some guy blurted out of his statomobile S. Somebody else hammered the horn and kicked loose an acoustic avalanche, the hooting of dozens of horns was making me almost dizzy. I spotted a fat man around my age – he wore a curled, fatty mustache and was fumbling around with a woman that maybe was in her mid-twenties. I felt the sudden urge to leave the car and beat the shit out of this rich poser. It was then we finally got to see the reason for the traffic jam. A delivery truck had somehow been toppled on its side, the rough looking stone pillars rising through the torn up street indicated that a robbery had taken place. Since nobody seemed to be at the site, besides two annoyed looking officers, we closed the distance in our slow pace.

Lin looked at the scene, scratched her arm and drove on with an almost guilty glare. Finally, we had space to drive again and Lin shot ahead with full speed. Actually, it was rather thrilling, because I never before had experienced such speed. I cramped the wooden armrest. "Lee, why are you smiling like a maniac?" Lin asked bubbly, while the whole car was vibrating an humming. One could barely yell over the sound of the engine, while the old car zigzagged its way through model s and other upper-class cars. Lin was a damn fine driver. Nevertheless some of her maneuvers gave me the chills, because we were almost grazing other cars. "That´s crazy Lin , so damn crazy." I blurted, while she just started laughing. "DAMMIT look on the street!" I shouted fearfully. "Haha…Lee´s a prissy…prissy!" she teased me. We were behaving like teens, but since it was fun I would not give anything besides a death glare in her direction.

Lin raced on for almost two hours until we found a parking lot close to the beach. Because we had left the modern seaside resorts far behind the car was dirty from gravelly tracks. Furthermore there was nothing much besides acres, farms and – the sea. It felt good to leave the car behind, after toweling the leathery seats. Lin stared at the blue sky as if she was seeing something unnatural. "So, where were we again?" she wuzzled her hair absentmindedly. Actually, that pulled me down a bit. It was a beautiful day I should not ruin with whimpering about the past. "Ah don´t mind." I responded and was heading down the steep cliff as simply avalanched down beside me – cheating earthbender! "I do mind Lee." She frowned, I actually flinched at that. "Ok- ok. Of course, I too had to sell my house. These guys jumped Sokka." I clenched my fists at the lone thought. "Luckily nothing happened, but yeah thousand yuan for a dojo – not one of my best deals." I admitted. Lin started cursing again, while I chuckled. "How the FUCK CAN YOU CHUCKLE ABOUT THIS!" she accused me. "You can´t even take care of Yumi´s grave! And you´re fucking chuckling?" she rumbled.

"God´s I would exhume her if I had the money." She croaked suddenly rather emotional. I just patted Lins shoulder. There was a dull twinging in my chest, as if I was not able to breathe properly. I just nodded, not sure if I should approve or not. "Of course, it´s understandable to be angry Lee, even Tenzin would spit fire if somebody took his home away from him like that." She stated from the bottom of her heart. "But just since I left Lau An I – I´m a free man again Lin. I don´t feel sad anymore, well – most of the times." I tried to explain. She looked at me with big eyes. "W- What? That´s the same thing my mother rambled about as she went into this – this messy, stinky swamp!" She shook her head. "Sokka also wouldn´t understand Lin. How should you understand, I mean – Tenzin isn´t dead." I responded. An angry scowl washed over her face. "Yeah…" she added after a while and settled herself on the sand. "I´ll never forget Yumi, no matter what. So I don´t need a grave to talk to her. Ask your mother if you don´t believe me." I responded while I took off robe and tank top. I did not pay any attention to Lin, who most likely was turning her back towards me. That woman really was hilariously prude.

I also got rid of my trousers and made my way towards the sea. "Don´t wanna take a swim?" I asked Lin. "uh -erm no…no I don´t." she stammered. I just shook my head grinning and delved into the waves. The water was refreshing and cool. The waves were heaving me up and down as I spotted white dots that were approaching at the horizon. While I plowed along the shore, the dots approached. Soon enough I could identify them as air bison's. I had of course seen some wild bisons, the animals were incredibly strong and monolithic. That they were air bending animals was almost a contradictio in se. I headed back to the beach, there were a few people resting under umbrellas.

Lin was sitting in the sand, notebook and pen in hand. I returned ashore and walked over, mollusk shells digging in my soles. "Eh Lin – is this Tenzin and his family? You wouldn´t randomly know that, wouldn´t you?" I asked slightly angry. Dammit - I had been perfectly fine for the last 20 years, without my little brother. Also, I really wanted to beat the crap out of this fucker, which would be impossible with his kids watching. I was no absolute prick after all. Lin flinched "Um..err yes – I – I thought you would like to meet up with the family?" she asked almost shyly. I just snorted "Aww yes, I´m brimming with joy." I deadpanned. Lin dropped her head. "You really like seeing them?" I asked wondering.

"I mean – YOU should be the one being overjoyed, right?" I stated ironically. Lin sighed. "I don´t know why, but Meelo really likes me. And Pema is a really good woman Lee. It´s not her fault that things are like they are and, yeah." She broke off and desperately tried to change the topic. "But how much time do you have for working out Lee? I mean, you´re looking more ripped than my officers." She stated with a strange look on her face. It was not seductive, but STRANGE! Who was sticking a pen in her nose while chewing on her bottomlip… I shrugged. "Two hours a day, sometimes more." I stated and sat down. "I guess it´ll get lively soon, and there goes a noon of interesting topics." I sighed. "Geez Lee, they´re not that bad – you went partying with BUMI!" she declared. "Because he threatened to burn down my noodle cart if I didn´t." I admitted flushing. Lin let out a cackling, very Bumi-like laugh. "What – you know that he´s a crazy fart! Come on he.." I clamped my mouth shut, no I would not tell what kinky things he did with the avatar. Because they simply HAD to do something the way they acted as they left that evening. But who was I to judge People! "Yeah…." Lin quirked an eyebrow and started scribbling again. "Well, where shall I start to tell embarrassing stories about him Lin?" I asked her. She had to nod at that and soon afterwards we heard loud yells. Two persons were dropping straight into the ocean out of at least 200 feet height!

"PEEEEEEEEEENIIIIIIISSSSS TENZIN!" Bumis voice thundered through the sky. "I guess that was what you wanted to express Lee." She started dryly. "Damn – why the hell must he be with them." Lin sighed. Obviously, she was not looking forward to spend the rest of her day with a jumpy, bickering Bumi. The second, much smaller person just screamed like a dying boarcupine. Slowly the big animals became clearly visible, they looked ancient with their pillar like legs, the gleaming, leg long horns and the huge, flat tails that could squash a man with ease. They nevertheless were insanely cute for such giant beasts, with the rounded heads, the big eyes and a rather short, stubby snout. Tenzin landed them behind the beach, while Bumi and the other person started a race towards the beach. "Damn, I still have no present for Meelo, he had his birthday last month." She noticed mortified. I was amazed, it seemed Lin really was caring for this kid. "And if you – give him a painting or something?" I asked, me and Sokka never had been much into birthdays. "But he can paint better than me." she responded. I just stared at her disbelievingly. "How old is Tenzins son?" I asked baffled, that a teenager of maybe seventeen, or nineteen years could paint better than Lin – being a boy – that was strange somehow.

"He turns thirteen, actually he´s acting more like Bumi´s son than anything else." Lin chuckled at my disbelieving face. "He just was born with this amazing photographic memory Lee. The kid can paint a card after seeing it for – like this." She snapped her fingers. "Mother of faces." I gulped, why the hell were all people of this family so crazily talented? It was as if the spirits really were granting them one favor after another. "That´s sick." I stated. "Sick is the fact that Meelo uses his great skill just to draw pictures of nude girls… How he manages to peek in their changing rooms also is a miracle." Lin stated frowning. I snorted, damn I started to like this feisty little brat. "And Tenzin – allows that? I mean, the guy is as strict as – I dunno firelord Ozai?" I asked wondering. I had pictured my brother to have children that were well behaved like porcelain dolls. Lin shook her head. "You never did see the real Tenzin, did you Lee? He tries to be all strict and, formal – but he´s one big sweetheart." She sighed melancholic.

I shrugged. "You really should think about letting go Lin – you´re not having happy dreams but sad dreams." I paused as she again had an angry scowl plastered on her face. "Who the FUCK has asked you for advice Lee." She grumbled. "I´d know a thing about sad dreams Lin, you can´t bring the past back." I nodded as if I wanted to persuade myself. She did not answer anything, but her pen had stopped grinding over the paper, so I had hit home.

In the meantime, orange clad figures strode down the cliff, carrying Lunch boxes, sun umbrellas and loungers. Tenzins family was not noticing us. They settled about twohundred feet eastward Bumi and his opponent were nearing the shore. Most likely the baldheaded, wiry figure that was surpassing Bumi´s speed slowly was his nephew. Bumi was letting him win, I knew that my younger brother was a far better swimmer – he was like an eel hound for La´s sake.

With a triumphant scream the kid was tumbling ashore, the boy was as thin and bony as most thirteen-year-olds. Bumi followed behind him. "Damn you Meelo!" he wheezed a bit too obvious. "I beat you uncle! SEEE DAD I DESTROYED UNCLE BUMI! THIS KIND OF MAN IS YOUR SON!" the kid was huffing his chest. "So sweet." Lin cooed before blushing furiously. I just shook my head, while Bumi slapped his nephew's shoulders with a thundering slap. The boy yelled in pain and went down, while Bumi was shaking his hand. "FUCK YOU!" the boy roared. Tenzin dropped the umbrella he was setting up, the thing almost hit another kid that was trying to help him. "ME LO!" he barked and then flinched as his wife chided him. Lin just went through a rather fluid looking bending stance and Bumi started sinking into the earth. "U-UAAAAA!" he yelled while the woman swaggered in their direction. I leaned myself back and let the sun warm my bare chest. I would simply wait until these crazy maniacs had calmed down a little. "Always hitting on children – you should be ashamed Bumi!" she growled. "What the hell are you doing here!" he yelped, while just his head was sticking out of the beach. Me Lo scrambled up pretty quickly he was obviously dazed. "A-Aunt Lin? Is that you?" he was obviously disturbed. Lin responded something in a less blurting tone. The Kid hugged the shit out of her, while little linny obviously was happy. Maybe I should be on my way – I felt as if I did not really belong to these people.

They were exchanging some word I could not hear. Then the boy darted off towards the rest of his family, not minding the red handprint on his back. "Lin – what are you doing here. Pleast don´t hurt me!" Bumi whined as Lin was dragging on his hair with bare toes. "Aawaaaa….HELP TENZIN HELP ME- ME LO. ME LO you traitor! THIS IS NOT HOW A MAN DESERVES TO DIE!" he yelped helplessly. I started to laugh at the comic display. The kid was blowing raspberries. "Go – got Auntie Lin!" he cheered, while I was wondering – Auntie Lin, somehow that sounded a lot like lil Linny. "Beating helpless children! Shame on you bully!" Lin rambled furious. Me Lo and helpless – somehow, I highly doubted that. Tenzin hurried over with long strides and blazing robes. "Lin, stop behaving so undignified please. Just because my BROTHER still is a little child we don´t need to stoop so low." He politely insulted Bumi. A short, chubby woman walked up besides my ascetic looking younger brother. So that was the famous Pema. She was no beauty, but she indeed seemed nice, even though her face was frowning. "Lin – Bumi! Could you please behave like adults? Me Lo – how often have I told you to stop yelling embarrassing nonsense!" she wagged her finger at her grumbling son.

"That´s no nonsense! Other mothers would weep in pride if they had a manly son like ME!" he stated superior. "Being dumb is not being manly Me Lo." A rather tall girl interfered, it was rather funny that the only person that had noticed me lying on the beach was the boy that had almost been cut down by the umbrella. He had green dyed hair, that stood up in a mohawk cut like the savage tribes of the southern earthnations wore. It suited him, also had a nice complexion and – a well done terra band on his right arm. The old version – not the mutilated shit the triads wore!

"Am I right Toza?" the girl demanded to know. The boy just grinned. "Oi babe." Tenzins wife looked at the boy with a mixture of disgust and admiration. The two teenagers started slobbering, well – the girl was a teenager, her boyfriend was at least seventeen. Tenzin frowned. "My daughter's name is Ikki." He stated stingy and blushed as his daughter behaved not childlike at all. "Yes, it is." The boy responded cockily and roughly dragged on Ikkis hair, she squealed in delight. I started laughing loudly as I beheld Tenzin gasping for air. Lin just plopped down in shock. "I-I-Ikki?!" she stammered. "What´s so strange with kids making out again?" I asked disturbed. I was being cruel but I had suffered like Tenzin not so many years ago. Actually, I still worried, but that was something nobody else needed to know, right? "My speech man, my speech! Come on my man Lee – get me outta the sand!" Bumi piped up. "B-But Ikki´s fourteen!" Lin yelped. Toza just furrowed his eyes.

"You´re not her mother." He stated while his girlfriend started calming him. The guy had a flaring temper it seemed, and if I was not mistaken he was not from a good neighborhood. Tenzin's eyes flew wide for a second, than he was his usually serene self again. Most likely Bumi had told him I was back in town. That guy could not keep a secret over his dead body! Interestingly he could keep bed stories to himself, but that was the limit. "Sorry Boomer, I don´t carry a spade with me." I sighed. "Lin, could you…" "NO!" she snapped. I just shrugged. "You heard it." I responded. "COWARD - piss your pants in front of lil Bei Fong." Bumi rambled. I fought the urge to kick him in the face. "Hello Lee. Nice to meet you!" Tenzin greeted me with a formal bow I replied sloppily. It was strange to meet him again after so many years. "I´m Pema." He wife also bowed.

"Boa – are these real scars?" the kid asked me. Me Lo looked at me with sharp grey eyes. "No – I paint them every morning." I deadpanned. Just how rude was this kid? Me Lo laughed. "Damn no, they aren't. So, you´re Bumis bro, right?" he asked. "We go way back, till elementary school. And you´re Tenzin´s son right?" Meelo snorted. "Yes, can we do something fun – cause Ikki and – this guy." He glared at Toza. "Will just slurp around for the rest of the day." He stated. Toza came over and smacked the younger boys head. "Bastard." Me Lo started wrestling, with the much taller and muscular young man, who easily threw him on the floor with an amused smile. "Yo – I´m Toza." He stated the obvious, green eyes gleaming at me. I gripped his forearm. His hand was strong and rough. "Lee." I responded. He nodded disturbed. "Y-yeah. Ikki, you didn't say your whole fucking family was tagging along." He grumbled while Tenzin dropped the Lycheenut he had picked up. Pemas eyes just widened in shock, he mouth dropped open. It seemed Ikki´s boyfriend wasn´t what her parents wanted him to be. Ikki blushed furiously "T-Toza darling."

Darling – WHAT CENTURY WAS THAT GAL LIVING IN! I blinked dazed, what the hell was going on. "Young Man. Watch your Mouth." My brother growled and actually I took a step backwards at the tone he displayed. Tenzin sounded more like a rabid dog than his monky self. Tenzin´s head had turned a deep red, and his carotid artery was pulsing visibly, while he grabbed the younger man by his collar with a surprising force. "Whoa that's going to be soooo entertaining." Bumi whispered. Me Lo gave him a thumbs up while groaning in the sand dramatically – sly little bastard! "Eh listen old man – I damn straight talk like I wanna talk!" the kid yelled back and shoved Tenzin away forcefully. It seemed this Toza kid knew a thing or two about brawls, he almost managed to throw Tenzin off balance. Talk about a short fuse I sighed internally. Lin just made another swooping motion. The earth listened and a knee high sandwave knocked the two huffing buffoons on their backsides. Pema stood there and dropped the basket she was holding while sighing obviously annoyed. "Apologize Toza." She spoke gently, actually it was daunting to see how some invisible plug was pulled from Toza´s head and his shoulders slumped. "Yes – I´m sorry for cursing Pema." He responded blushing. "You think you can talk to my daughter like she´s some floozy!" Tenzing griped and rose from the sand. I actually snapped at that.

"YOU shut your boogeytrap about relationships TEN-TEN." I hissed sharply. Tenzin turned, he still was steaming. "Lee- what the hell are you piping up for!" Lin slapped my head. I actually felt shame for a brief moment. "You uncivilized cocky idiot shut up. You´ve no idea about raising kids!" Tenzin hissed. I was short of punching him to a puddle. The wind was whipping trough my hair. "Yeah – cause you´ve wiped your kid's asses off every night and dealt with them when they were ill or got the milky teeth right Ten Ten?" I mocked him. "I bet you wife did all that -well." I added grimly. "Too bad for you that I had to raise my daughter alone because my wife was ill and died., Spirits damn it – stop behaving like your daughter is a FUCKING INFANT! Don´t you even trust your own kids?" Tenzin actually was blabbering nonsense at that. "What kind of screwed up prude, and pietistic fart are you even!" I rambled on, while almost jabbing a finger in his chest. Bumi was cackling out loud. "Heaven´s that´s better than love amongst dragons!" he cried. "Lee, just calm down!" Lin stated determined and matter of factly.

"Well – this guy behaves like a dickhead? The hell – it´s not like Toza has called his girlfriend a bitch and slapped her in the face, or something!" I grumbled. "It´s normal for young people to HATE HANGING OUT WITH FAMILY – we weren´t any different, for god's sake!" I stated snorting. Toza looked at me as if I was some kind of weird spirit. "Smack em hard bro!" Bumi cheered me on. Lin just opened and closed her mouth like a koi fish. Tenzin´s head was as red as a plumato, obviously, he was not used to be called names. Pema just rolled her eyes. "Tenzin – you´re behaving like president Raiko on charity galas." She stated silently and friendly. Tenzin on the other hand did not care much, I always had been kind of antagonistic for him and so her growled. "You apologize Bei Gao Lee! Just because your daughter behaves like an…er independent woman." He closed his mouth as he noticed my stare. I almost struck him in the face, now he was done for – spirits damn you brother. Nobody insults my Sokka in her absence! Nobody! "Tenzin!" Lin piped up. She obviously was astonished that somebody could trigger her former boyfriend like this. "God´s Ten Ten – are you ten? Just shut the fuck up about sex!" Bumi frowned annoyed.

"Whenever you talk about it, you sound like you´re talking about something disgusting and unnatural – which is just WRONG! Come on – even YOU´re banging on regular basis!" Tenzin huffed his chest and kicked a dust cloud in Bumi´s direction. The guy started coughing and cursing. "You brother have no right to talk about proper behavior!" he snarled. Well – I had to agree with him about that. "So everybody just yelled? Yes? Ok, then let´s have some lunch. "Pema stated determined. What kind of calmness could this woman muster? "Oh, Ro Han." She sighed and looked at the smallest of her children. The boy was absurdly fat for a little kid, he was munching on something that looked like a pastry. "What have I told you about dinner time?" she asked. The kid just made the worst puppy eyes I had seen in my whole live. "B-but Mommy. I -I was just hun- hun…" the little boy started sobbing. Of course, he also wanted some attention, now that everybody else had gotten it, right? Pema at once fell for his devilish plan and hugged the little rascal. Tenzin still was upset, but while I stared at him he just started stuttering nonsense, also because his daughter was laughing about him. I just settled myself next to Bumi, whose eyes were tearing up. "Lin – could you release Bumi, please?" I asked pitiful. Lin just narrowed her eyes, I almost flinched.

To flinch in front of little Linny, far had I come! She stomped into the sand and Bumi was catapulted back on the beach, along with a giant cloud of sand that struck me and Me Lo too. Sand was in my Ears, eyes and mouth. I tried to spit it out. "Fuck you Lin. Gods. What the FUCK!" I rambled, while I was tumbling towards the sea, followed by Bumi and a colorfully swearing boy. Lin just chuckled devilish. "Cause you all are idiots!" she stated chuckling. I just gave her the finger. Finally, we were able to clean ourselves, even though the sea water burned in our eyes. I nevertheless took the occasion to take another swim, mostly because I did not want to irate Tenzin further. When I returned ashore everybody else was eating and Tenzin seemed to have returned to his monky self. I seated myself next to Bumi. "Some filled wine leaves?" Pema offered. Since everybody else was stuffing their faces I could not decline. "Thank you." I responded politely and took a leaf. The filling was surprisingly fresh and sour, it contained beans and some other vegetables I did not even know. "Rather tasty Pema, there´s no possibility you might share the recipe?" I asked Tenzins woman. She blinked. "Erm…yes, of course I can provide you with the recipe. Have another one." She responded. Lin just pushed another giant bite down her throat. "That stuff isn´t filling at all Pema." She cheered and grabbed another wrap. Me Lo of course wolfed down his share and excused himself hurrying up towards the other people that were enjoying the seaside, while Bumi was blabbering nonstop. It seemed he had found a new hobby – which was something occurring on monthly basis. This time it was free climbing. And it also had to do with a woman named Xiao Fen, but I had to admit that Bumi was not looking as rail thin as he did when I returned to Republic. So he really was doing some king of sport besides airbending.

"Well bro you really should try to go up these cliffs there. There so damn hot – like some well-oiled titties. Right Linny?" He smiled. Tenzin frowned, while Lin coughed and blushed furiously. I just stared at the towering rocks and ate another leaf wrap. They did not even closely resemble a woman. "A-ha." I stated. Pema was giggling. "Bumi, you´re such a rascal!" she feigned indignation. "Awww come on Pema – don´t tell me girls don´t like rascals." He purred seductively. Tenzin just sighed and poured himself a tea. Obviously, his older brother was always flirting with his wife. Pema on the other hand seemed to be enjoying the flattery, even though she dismissively waved her hand and referred to the children being there. Toza and Ikki had silently left and now were bathing in the sea together – and most likely doing something else. "So, you want to climb up there Boomer?" I eyed him doubtfully. I had scrambled my way all over shangyangs roofs in my youth, but after giving these cliffs a closer look I decided I would not try them. They looked weathered mostly because they were just crawling with footholds.

"Course I would Lee. Wanna race them?" he asked challenging. Even though I thought about the joy I might feel if I bested Bumi I shook my head. "I do like my whole bones Bumi." I responded looking at the cliffs. "Eh, don´t be a pussy Lee – ther´re full of footholds. A kid could walk up there man." He huffed. Tenzin just quirked an eyebrow, while Lin was making a rather funny looking face. "I´d like to see you walk up there Bumi, because I doubt anybody can go up there without cause a landslide." I stated doubtfully. "Come on Lee- we´ve gotta DO something! Dang we´re on the beach and sit around like old geezers!" he grumbled. "How about playing another game Bumi." I smiled devilish while I thought about getting revenge for the sand bath. Lin was listening to Pema, who talked about knitting some kind of Robe. "I´m all ears!" he whispered with sparkling eyes. "What do you thing about making little linny all watery." I responded nodding in the direction of little Ro Han. Bumi grinned. "Eh bro…careful what ya wishing fo…" he blinked "You did mean it literally did ya?" he asked disturbed. Of course, I did. "Not everyone is as perverted as you are Bumi." I stated the obvious. "But – you could just use normal threads for that…" Lin noticed dryly. Pema stared at her. "That´s a brilliant idea!" she exclaimed, while Bumi silently sneaked up on Tenzins little brother who was playing with a little wooden shovel. He also owned a little orange bucked which he had carelessly thrown away.

Actually, watching this child had some worth in itself. The fat little guy was grumpily staring at the shovel he had implanted into the sand listlessly. The sand castle his mother had started building simply would not grow, no matter how much he stared at the shovel. Also, the kid was staring at the big lunch bag with longing eyes. Bumi grabbed the little bucked and strolled down the beach. Neither Pema, nor Lin were noticing him. He than turned towards the see to fill it with water. What he did than was something I had not expected. Instead of returning like an ordinary personed he started sprinting the leaking bucket in front of him. "Ghunim narha ruginn!" he yelled full at full throttle. Was that some kind of self made language? Lin and Pema shrieked and turned around as yelled on. Tenzin was just looking at his brother and threw a palmblast in his direction Bumi was hit and the Bucket simply struck the sand. "Tenzin! Dishonorable Coward!" Bumi rambled while I did not get his point. "Are you having your five minutes again Bumi?" Tenzin asked sighing. "I will not forgive this! Annoying gramps!" Bumi cursed. "So, did somebody want do spill water ove my dress." Lin sounded like a Shinigami incarnate. Bumi smiled a bit too brightly. "Äh – no?" he asked as Lin stared at him. "Gods dammit Bumi were no teenagers anymore! Behave like an adult man!" she grumbled blushing. I just chuckled at that. "What!" she snapped. "Actually, you behave like a rather young girl Lin." Tenzin stated the obvious. "Indeed." I stated feighning innocence. Lin pouted and turned away, so she was being happy, I guessed. Bumi let out a relieved sigh.

"That was close." He whispered. "So, what exactly is going on with Avatar Korra? Why isn´t she here, I was told she was part of the family." I gestured around vaguely. Somehow Bumi coughed and turned much more serious than usually. "She´s visiting a friend of hers." Tenzin answered ominous. Actually, that sounded reasonable, she was a young woman – so why should she hang out with a bunch of old saps and some kids? "Well does somebody have some cards for corners?" I asked, in the silence. "Pff…you´re talking to Bumi, master of awesomeness and fun here!" my brother piped up. "Of course, I´d have some cards on me if I were to be buried man!" he stated and went for his backpack. "Gambling…" Tenzin stated and looked as if he was dying inside. "Who talks about betting money?" I retorted. "ME? And ME and MEEEE!" Bumi yelled agitated. I just smirked. "Coppers, then it is. Lin you´re in?" I asked. "Ummm…why not." She grumbled. Bumi cheered.

"Seem´s the iron maiden still holds some live in that armor O steel!" he joked. Lins face dropped for a second, but than she managed to smile. Pema also shoved herself over, since her youngest sons had deemed shoveling sand useless and rested himself beyond the umbrella to take a nap. "So what is this game you´re going to play?" she asked. "Ujiji?" even the name of this cursed water tribe game was frightening. "no – I´m not playing a game in which you smack peoples faces – not with Bumi around!" I stated remembering he used sand gloves while playing this. Bumi chuckled madly. "Come on bro – that´s part of the game!" he was mixing the cards. "But I don´t have Ujiji stones Pema, so we´re going to play corners. You should watch Lin play it." He responded. Lin had been raised in a house where everyone had taken corners more seriously than doing the dishes, so of course she could paly well. The hand Bumi gave me was more than awesome. The three emperors, the jade and iron towers as well as three pieces of red land. "hmm…a damn." I muttered and tossed a copper coin. "Funds opened." I sighed. "Come on Tenzin, we´re just playing for the fun of it." Pema tried to motivate her husband who had started reading a scroll. "I dislike gambling." He stated while watching Ikki and her boyfriend wrestling in the clashing waves.

I just smirked as Bumi doubled the pot. He played a chariot and turned the first land. Blue, that could become a problem if he was prepairing to launch the unagi. But the unagi needed five parts. Pema and Lin were whispering. Lin pointed at some cards. We played for some hours, actually Pema was a bluffing protégé. Tenzin remained hard as stone, even when Toza and Ikki joined us. Me Lo was lost until the sun set and the beach was empty. He then returned with torn clothes drenched in water and sand. When the evening came, Tenzin rose. "I guess we should head home. What do you say my dear?" he asked his wife. The guy really had read three scrolls this day. "Me Lo. Help Toza wrap the umbrellas." Pema stated. "MOOOM. Can't we stay some longer!" HE whined. "No, you´ve got school tomorrow young man." His mother responded adamant. "Aww come on. I´m the son of a councilman!" he rambled. "And that makes you nothing special!" Pema slapped the backside of his head. The boy grumbled annoyed and packed up things. Toza and Ikki di not even complain, in fact the boy carried everything heavy before Pema could even lay a finger on it. So, he wasn´t that bad, nevertheless it was amusing to see how warily Tenzin eyed him. "So, do you and Lin need a ride back to republic?" Tenzin asked me.

"No – gues Lin won´t leave her car behind." I responded, while Bei Fong nodded. "Well, then. I guess you should visit us sometimes." Tenzin spoke, I was not sure who was addressed with this. I also helped them loading their sky bisons. It was quite interesint to see how nimble Tenzins hands tied the countless straps that were holding the mighty saddles. You actually needed two airbenders to place them on the animal's backs. Then the heavy animals bowed their legs and jumped into the air like birds. They flew away unter the smacking sound of reins. Tenzin and his family waved. It seemed the son of Aang had grown up, too. Lin stared at them until the dawn swallowed them. She finally lowered her gaze. "So, was that fun?" I asked her settling down near the cliffs edge. "Yes – yes it was." She admitted with a low voice. "But – shouldn´t I ´ve been working Lee?" she asked desperate. "No – stop being foolish Lin. You can´t work, you also have to live sometimes." I stated. She remained silent. "We also should drive Home." She yawned. "With an old car, which has oil lights, sounds like a great idea to me." I stated ironically. "Well – I need to be at my office tomorrow!" she jipped. "Says who?" I quirked an eyebrow, it was rather funny to tease Lin. She started stuttering. "But where should we sleep then?" she asked. "How about the beach? It´s summer Lin – you surely have some blankets flying around in the trunk." I responded. "Uh – yeah." She responded. "I haven´t done something like that since I was sixteen Lee." She responded. I laughed heartily. "No time like the present, then. I responded walking towards the car.


	17. Fight or die

**Fight or die**

It had taken me and Lin another two days to return back to republic city, nevertheless the little idiot of course launched herself into her piling paperwork. On the other hand, I had to keep my stall running, because I surely would lose my customers if I was not opening regularly. I was preparing some noodles for a middle-aged gentleman as I noticed Chou. The young man was tripping around nervously in front of the station, he even was smoking a cigarette. Usually he wasn´t smoking at all. He wore the typical dark uniform, without any kind of weaponry – Mako relied on his hands way too much if you asked me. I waved. "Ah Chouw – finally back in the hood it seems. The usual?" I asked him. "Ehrm…yeah – yeah of course." He responded slightly off. I started preparing the days special, which was pan fried eel hound kidneys with dumplings and pan fried noodles. I personally hated eel hound kidneys, which tasted like solid lumps of blood, but for some reason especially water tribe people loved this atrocity!

Sokka also had stopped by in the morning, she had a day off and had told me she finally got accepted in a gym. A real gym, which meant I had been swelling with pride. It was run by a former Kung Fu champion from Ba Sing Se, I´ve heard of the man – back the day he really had been a force of nature. Since my little girl was sporting a black eye and a split lip I was slightly worrying, but which father was NOT worrying about his little princess for no reason? "So, that´s seven four." I responded while giving the man his exchange. "Thank you, have a nice day." The guy responded politely, collected the coppers and left. Chouw appeared in front of the wagon as I was slicing the eelhound kidney, which had been stored in my ice-box. "Long time no see Mako. Your investigation is finished?" I asked the young man who was seemingly uneasy.

"Yes Mr. Lee." He responded. Yes, definitely something was off – he had started calling me Mr. again! "Erm..I…I thought because you were a cop n stuff. Well – erhm…" he stuttered scratching his unkempt hair. What in the heavens was this about? Hadn´t I made clear before that I had no connections in this city anymore? I had been out of town and out of business for more than 20 years, also I highly doubted that Mako Chouw lacked experience on the other side of law. If the newspapers had reported the truth, he had grown up a street urchin which meant he definitely had committed his share of crimes. I quirked an eyebrow. "So, what?" I shrugged. The young man leaned over the counter and spoke behind an upraised hand – really suspicious if you asked me! "It´s about the lead bit cases – we´ve got our men. I want to ask you if you want to join at an … um task-force meeting?" he sounded rather unsure. Actually, I was hooked at once, not only would I love to see these bastards chisel stones for the rest of their lives', I also was quite flattered. How many old noodlemen can say to be asked for help by the most popular policeman in the history of Repubic City? "When and where?" I asked Mako in an almost bubbly voice.

"Sato Manison Mr. Lee. Tonight, the sixth hour." He responded suddenly looking really grave. My eyes twitched, obviously, there was something fishy going on. "Could it be you´re planning something quite illegal?" I asked while the young man flinched visibly. I had hit home – I wondered though… We weren´t very close. Besides some sparring and the daily lunch breaks we did not do anything together. "Thank you very much. You should bring a weapon - just in case you would accompany us." He nodded and took his purse out. The coppers clanked in the wooden bowl. "Well then, I´ve got to meet up with other people!" he responded and hurried of, one of my bowls in his hands. "hey – the…oh damn it." I sighed. I had the feeling that my bowl was a lost cause. Sato Manison – so I would meet Asami Sato. I scratched my nose – far had I come. Sato industry HAD something to do with the massacre at the all school´s night?

I definitely would come, but in the meantime, I had some meals to sell. "Hello officers, whatdaya want?" I asked as a patrol squad arrived, hungrily glaring at my stall. Lao also had both of his hands full, filling travel cups with teas. So, the day dragged on while I was impatiently waiting for the evening. It was almost time to close my stall and be on my way towards sato mansion – which address I had exerted out of a bunch of school boys – as Lin appeared in front of my stall. She was wearing full armor like every day. "Hey." She greeted me, seeming tense somehow. "Hey Lin – you know I´ve got an appointment tonight, so some noodles with turtle duck? Or dumplings?" I asked. "Appointment?" a sly smile was playing around her lips as she noticed my hectic movements. "So, who´s the lucky one?" she asked teasingly. I blinked stunned – what was Linny talking about? "Lucky one?" I paraphrased until I realized what she meant. Lin had started cackling – vile woman she was! I felt a blush creeping in my cheeks, I felt somehow embarrassed by the thought of dating somebody. I never had given it a thought – even though I had cracked a lot of jokes about it. "Wh-What the hell!" I snorted, while my heart skipped a beat and hammered in my chest.

I was not sure if I was happy or sad about this. Lin of course noticed it and started getting all sorry. "Oh – Lee I´m sorry. I – I shouldn´t have said something stupid like this." She blabbered on and pushed my raised hand down on the counter. "It was really insensitive- I mean -you – you lost the love of your life and I´m just trampling all over your feelings." She whimpered. "Me of all people, who should know better – please forgive me." She was staring at her feet, blushed a crimson read. I saw two officers whispering with each other. They smiled. "SHUT THE BLOODY FUCK UP ASSHOLES!" Lin snarled in their direction. The men snapped into attention like puppets. "YES Ma´am!" they looked like school boys, which were scolded by their teacher – I had to stifle a laugh. "So…. get back to work you gossiping sissys!" she rambled. "And IF I hear rumors, we´re going to have a TALK in my office! Got me? Dismissed gentlemen!" she clapped her hands and the officers hurried away with another "Yes Ma am."

Lin really had stepped in her mother's footsteps! It still was strange to see sweet little Linny so – emancipated? "Don´t smirk like that Lee – there are already rumors going around." She grumbled pouting. "What rumors?" I asked innocently. There she was stuttering again! "Y-You know what rumors!" she responded loudly. "Th- The rumors…. you and I…you know!" she was flushing even more. She still behaved adorably hilarious. "Geez Lin, let the people talk – then they´re busy and don´t do anything else." I stated dryly. "W-W-WHAT? But -they say you´re my pet! My boy-toy!" she grumbled infuriated! Actually, that was a bit indignating - on the other hand I definitely could imagine worse fates… so I just shrugged. "Y-You´re shrugging?" she squeaked upset. "Yep – I COULD be your boy-toy, since nobody knows we go way back till school…" I trailed of. Again, Lin made one of her strange faces, he lips pouting, while her nose wrinkled as if she was - visiting a bathroom. "So – erm- just give me some dumplings." She changed the topic abruptly, took the paper bag and paid. " I´ve gotta go Lee." She excused herself as she headed towards the bunks with long strides, the woman shook her grey hair. How one could like such a lousy haircut was something I would never understand! Still is was wondering – what was Lin up to? It was way too early for her to abandon her precious desk – or should my little pep talk have had such a big impact? I made my daily scrap sale to bust out the left overs. Then I jumped into the pedals. Hopefully I would be in time! The streets were busy, cars roaring, people shouting – and I was in the middle of it.

It took far longer to leave the hellish traffic behind and make it to the shoreline than I had thought. There Sato Manison was located between other manisons of the rich an famous. Indeed – one palace after another – lined up like pearls on a necklace! If you looked closer at this luxury, the tremendous house of my late father almost seemed – usual and boorish! When I arrived at the named address I located a lot of smeared graffiti on the high brick wall of Sato mansion. Different from her neighbors Miss Sato seemed not to bother with the outrage of the poor and let their words remain as a strange memento mori. I supposed I would not stand to have painted "Lee Bei Gao – biggest whore of the united Republic" or "Lee is a damned faggot!" in front of my doorstep. Miss Sato definitely stood above petty insults it seemed. I skidded to halt in front of an impressive iron gate. "Excuse me?" I addressed the guardsman, who was way too eager about his job. "I´m Lee Bei Gao." I introduced myself – I was baffled that he simply opened the gate without asking me any questions. "Miss Sato is awaiting you, Sir." He responded wondering at my attire. So I parked the cart directly in front of the entrance doors. Was that – Lin´s car? Definitely, it still was dusty from the ride to the beach! I frowned, somehow this was getting really strange! The door was opened by an old, fancy dressed man. His suit looked hilarious, with it´s gold trimmed seams. "Mr. Bei Gao?" the old servant stated with the keen eyes that were typical for men of his position.

"Yes? And where do it meet Mr. Chow's task force?" I asked the guy. A sad look washed over the old man's face, he sighed. "Please follow me." He stated nonchalantly and led me through an astonishing entrance. There was gold and ebony everywhere – not even the royal palace of the fire nation sported so much wealth. I tried my best to ignore the pompous house and focus at the things ahead. Finally, I entered a room. The atmosphere was dense, I had not felt such denseness since the days after the Yakone-trial. My eyes bulged, Bumi was there, wearing Sokka´s sword and a heavy armor. Next to him were Lin, Chouw and Ping, as well as two younger looking policemen. They all wore full plate armors. Finally, there was Asami Sato, she eyed me intensely, looking as beautiful as the painting that hung behind her. "Hello?" I cleared my throat, feeling really awkward. This fashionable young lady was the culprit who stole my house! Still, somehow it felt pathetic to even mention my situation, now I saw her strapped into a tight leathery outfit lined with brass reinforcements. Yumi definitely would have killed for that! Lin turned around her eyes big as marbles. "Mako – wh-why do you bring Lee into this? He´s got a family!" she growled, while glowing jade faced rather calm embers. "We´re short on hands Chief?" the young man responded.

"Also, I will not make anybody here do anything!" he responded sharply. I frowned, what the hell was this all about? "Are we going to take somebody in or what?" I asked disturbed. "WHEEEEEEEYYYYY ma man Lee finally got it!" Ping cheered. "Come on Rocky – it´s TOOO OBVIOUS. HOW can anybody NOT check what we´re planning. Just look at THIS!" Bumi rambled almost hysterically, waving his ironclad hand in front of Ping´s face. "Gentlemen – please." Asami Sato spoke with a gentle, almost bored tone that made Bumis face turn grave at once. I never had seen him serious like that, and actually this was turning my guts. "Yes Asami. You´re right – this is no joke." He admitted defeated, while deep wrinkles were evident on his face. For once he looked like the war hardened veteran he was. "So, Miss Sato – the honor is yours." Ping stated, also looking as if he had eaten something quite rotten. "You´re talking about messing with a triad chapter? Because – you guys look like you´re going up against some crazed dragons!" I responded, impressed by their weaponry. Even Lin hat added throwing knives on top of her cables, and Ping, Ping had fastened Jade-Hammers on his wrist. Asami Sato looked ashamed, nevertheless she was well composed. If I remembered she was barely twenty-five, I sighed.

Would there never be a time where youths could stay youths until they had kids? I seated myself, while Lin was staring at me with pleading eyes. There of course was no way I would simply walk away, not if this was about the bastards who almost killed my only daughter! "So – we´re listening." Bumi clapped his hands, the sound was rather hollow and bony. "Yes." Asami gulped, her hands clenched. "I could…" Mako started. "Shut up." The heiress hissed, the young man flinched. "This all began with my father." She spoke, her green eyes glistering with tears. Hiroshi Sato the equalist – the madman who threw bombs from the sky! I felt sorry for this girl, who despite her enormous wealth must have had a childhood as murky as the yellow river! "I still…" her voice broke for a moment, Chouw placed a hand on her shoulder and was shrugged off – proud as a shirshu – I knew that annoying threat quite well! "still remember the fancies party that was ever thrown here. It was because my father bought the royal mining company from the earth queen. But fact is – that he was paid with it. He was paid for developing gunpowder driven…" It all made sense now. "Projectile weaponry – hell it´s so obvious! It´s like a combustion engine, just that the force of the blasting gelly is not stopped and accelerates the projectile – like a pimped blowgun." Asami spoke. "He did it just to grab more money – he handed these things to a despotic woman who beheaded people for not BOWING PROPERLY!" she hissed enraged. Her breathing steadied itself slowly.

"But after the Kuvira rebellion my father was dead – or the former Dai Li got greedy, I don´t know. Someday a Colonel Chun appeared in my office." Asami gulped again. "He was a very – impressive – man." She spoke. Lin was close to jumping from her chair, her knuckles white from clutching her knees, I´ve never seen her so angry before. "He also showed me the contract my father signed – I -I am so ashamed. I -beg you to belive me." He voice was hoarse. Tears were running down my brothers' face. "This bastard." He cursed sniffling. Ping also was eying the ceiling very intensely I felt a lump in my throat – yes that was the sort of guy who joined the Dai Li. "And of course, he threatened me, he wanted new plans for more effective weapons. But I had no idea where they could be. And you don´t simply draw something like that, give it a smith and are done with it…. Well I was rather – besides me." She admitted with a silent voice. "Asami you…" Mako was raising from his chair. "No – I want to!" Miss Sato responded frowning. The young man buried his face in his hands and sighed in defeat. There definitely was something going on between the two of them! Mako was quite the lucky man if you asked me! "Well… I was too ashamed to go to the police, so basically I committed…" Lin exploded. "Shut the hell up Asami" her voice sounded gruff, jep Linny was getting all teary I supposed. Even I, who had no connection to Asami Sato was quite moved by her little speech. "You didn´t commit anything!" she snarled, closing the space. "Shall I slap some sense into your law obsessed little skull!" she rumbled while shaking her fists forcefully at the taller woman. "Holy crap!" Ping stated. "Chief Bei Fong has returned from the dead!" he remarked, wiping his eyes. Bumi still was sniffling.

"B-B-But I did not do what the law says!" Asami stuttered. "I-I…this massacre would not have happened if I had given them Sato Industries! I – s-should have given it to them." She whimpered. That was true, and it was something Miss Sato would have to live with. Lin nevertheless cursed in ancient Guangzhou. "Thank you for sharing this with us." I responded while everybody was staring at me. I blushed furiously, had I really just said – THAT?! Bumi giggled hysterically. "Gods damn it Lee – that´s more Tenzin than Tenzin!" he shook his head. "Now to the important things, wo don´t have a large time frame." Mako interrupted with a flat voice. I had to agree with him, sitting around and talking did not get Dai Lee behind bars. "So, where do these guys have their Hideouts?" I asked because nobody else was saying anything. "We have this." Mako responded while placing a map of republic city on the table. "Where these men live at the moment is unknown, most likely they use hotels for a maximum of two or three days. These guys are professional agents, we have to remember that." He stated gravely. Indeed, Dai Li agents were a pain in the ass, not just due to their large social nets and their martial prowess.

"Aye." Ping nodded. "But there is something they cannot move. For what reasons, ever they have started manufacturing some of their weapons right under our noses, even though the earth nation army does already have some powder-weapons. Which are the stuff that was used to…" he closed his mouth, the amber eyes brimming with rage. "To meaninglessly kill people, correct." I responded biting down the simmering rage that was creeping into my throat. "These bastards wanted to make a statement directed in my direction." Asami Sato had a silent tear running down her cheek, while her voice was croaky like an old woman's. "So, we´re going to put these rabid dogs down tonight, when they assemble to ship off their weaponry to heavens know where. As they do every evening." She explained grimly. "You´re planning on cutting Dai Li agents down? In public while using illegal weaponry?" I asked while a spur of fear wavered in my voice. Did these guys know WHO the dai Li were? The Dai Li was the monster under you bed – incarnated in a nameless cruel machinery that had spun it´s shady spider web across the four nations for centuries! The only organization that was scarier than the judges of the northern water tribes! "You´re totally crazy! Nobody kills a Dai Li. Don´t you even know their creed? Well I DO!" I rambled my voice almost toppling.

"We´re those clad in green, hearts carved from stone.

Neither stick nor stone will ever break our bone.

Brothers without name

men without a shame

Without glory, without fame

Emerald fist is our name

DAI LI"

I recited the creed that sounded like a childish lullaby. It´s lone sound drove icy cold in my bones, I had witnessed the atrocities these monsters committed in broad daylight! The triads were a kindergarten compared to these guys, who were drilled and educated in special orphanages since they were toddlers!

"Then get up and leave Lee – I know we´re some crazy ass farts to mess with the dai Li, but we can´t stand by an do nothing! My parents didn´t raise me like that!" Bumi concluded decisive. I sighed – pompous righteousness yeah – where did I know that from? "So where is this manufacture?" I asked sighing in defeat. "Lee – you really should…" Lin piped up. I stared at her with furrowed eyebrows and she lowered her gaze. I was not a man who stood up and left when his best friends decided to jump into the bottomless fog head first! Sadly I was the kind of idiot who jumped with them. "Cut the crap, give me a sword we go there cut these fuckers down and are done with it." I responded grimly. Mako nodded. "The place is proper for doing something like that because the cops tend to walk through it with both eyes closed. It´s in the buffalo flats, block twelve to be precise. Kuang Ling owns the facility which is said to be a precision parts manufacture." He explained. "I´ve visited the place, which most likely contains the equipment that was stolen from Sato electronics some weeks ago. The guys run the facility in two shifts, because night work would be too suspicious – even in the buffalo flats." He responded. That sounded promising. "And of course, they cannot risk storing larger amounts of weaponry there, because even if they pay the Terra chapter they hired … it would be too tempting for the thugs." He concluded. I nodded in consent, as did Lin. "So, they take the stuff away by car?" I asked. Mako nodded "Exactly, and of course the dai Li Agents are there and supervise the transport, which is done with exactly the same vans every day." He responded. "Which is the reason why I have bought exactly the same van." Asami added dryly. "I also hired a driver for this night, who of course has no idea where he has to drive and what his cargo is. We will move in the van before the guy arrives and Tang will take care of the rest. The man is one of the racers, some criminal gang which is all about car theft and such." Asami explained slightly snobby.

"When he arrives we jump out of the van and fight everything that is clad in green. The agents prefer the republic chic, which means emerald suits of modern cut." Mako explained. "They are our top priority, actually it would be preferable to get at least one of them alive, but if it can´t be done – screw it." He stated. Damn it, here we were sitting and planning cold blooded murder! Somehow that felt – bad! "And, where could these guys run away to? Are there parking spaces, back entrances?" I asked. "That´s the case me and the boys are wearing riot gear." Ping interrupted and pointed at himself and the younger cops. "We´ll simply patrol the backside of block 12. Dao here usually is on patrol duty there." He pointed at a rather slim young man. "Yep – usually I don´t mingle much in illegal businesses, but these fuckers go and involve honest people in their doings – that´s intolerable." The green eyes of the young man were burning. He seemed like the kind of cop that visited the same bars the triad bosses did, but he had his lines and that was something I respected. "And then, we´ll just go in from the backside. And by the enlightened budha we´ll not be gentle." He responded huffing his chest. "Aye." Ping nodded. "So- that´s basically the plan. And now get your things ready, write your last will or have a good shit. In half an hour, the van should be prepared." Mako responded. Ping rose, with him the two young cops did so.

My old friend clapped my shoulder "Eh Lee" he pulled me close, which was rather strange. "Take care man – this is going to get ugly!" he stated and walked off. "Y-Yeah." I was quite distracted. Ping usually did not do such things, didn´t he? Bumi muttered something under his breath and downed his cup of tea. Lin looked grim like a Shinigami. I had no idea what was going to happen. Actually, I had written a letter to Sokka before I packed up my stall – but still I was worrying. What if I didn´t come back? I didn´t want to think that through. "You really won´t go home Lee?" Lin asked me silently placing a hand on my upper arm. She almost got me, I was feeling lousy because I should go home and be a proper father. But I couldn´t, I just shook my head. "But you don´t even have an armor." Lin pleaded, she looked heart wrenching. I admitted that I would have felt way safer if I had worn the plate and chainmail armor the Chief was clad in. "So, what?" I shrugged. "If I´m gonna die I´m gonna die anyways." I tried a smirk and failed miserably. Still the heart started beating faster and my hands were feeling warm and strong as the adrenaline slowly started to rush into my veins.

Asami Sato handed me a sword wordlessly, it seemed she was somewhere else, just a body remaining here. Bumi had pulled a whetstone from his pockets and began grinding his sword. "That´s the worst right. Waiting for hell ta break loose." He grumbled and added some colorful words. Ping had started praying to the merciful Buddha and Mako was staring deep into nothingness while tracing his burn scars with a finger tip. Lin on the other hand was busily eying everybody jumping from one foot on the other, I barely could breathe behind the painted wooden mask. Her eyes seemed clear, she obviously was a professional. My heart bled as I thought of the harsh path she had walked for decades and for a moment I had no idea who this, grey haired, stern eyed, woman was! I clenched and unclenched my hand mechanically. The sword seemed heavy, while it greedily sucked the sweat off my hands. The van stood there, doors opened. "Im checking the doors." Lin stated, her voice bare of emotions. Then she walked over to the van the lock had been replaced by a simple bolt so nobody could lock us in. I was wondering what she did as she climbed onto the van and entered a bending stance. Her index fingers scratched through the metal as Lin furrowed her brows in concentration.

Her hands formed a door but the metal was not falling outside. Then she placed the hands on her hips. "Come on get in!" her voice was shrill and loud in the small backside of the van. It took quite some time for us to get a place inside. Asami even had brought some oil lanterns. "That we aren´t blinded when the door opens." She explained while distributing the lanterns. I had to admit I would never have thought about something so sophisticated. Than the doors closed and the bolt was moved into place, while I was cramped in a corner between the hulking figure of Chouw and Miss Sato. These youngsters definitely were giants! I was feeling like being choked to death between their shoulders. Sweat filled the air and the breathing was so loud I though you could hear it all the way to the south pole. "Spirits…I…I can't breathe." Asami whimpered almost panicking. DAMN! I was close to cursing. "Shut the fuck up!" Mako blared sounding rather frantic as well. "Breath in and…out." I commanded while trying to obey my own words. "In….Out." they listened, which was close to a miracle because I also was quite freaked out. Actually I felt like every fiber of my being was burning with energy. I never before had experienced something like this.

Surely police work or security work had had it´s thrilling moments but they usually did not build up like this. Shit just happened! Suddenly we could hear somebody knocking on the van. "Oi….So dat´s deh rat I´mma drivin?" the man was speaking the broadest Guangzhu I had ever heard, most likely he was from Omashu. His voice was deep and gruffy. The man coughed viciously and spit out. "Yes Mr. that´s the van." I could hear Tang flinch, most likely our driver was the incarnation of the old butler´s nightmares. Asami was short of giggling loudly. "So comoon gramps gimme mah cash!" the dude coughed again. "Could you please stop spitting on the pavement?" Tang asked almost whining. What the heck was wrong with this old moron – did he have a sudden death wish? With a rattling sound, something heavy was smashed against de side of the van. "Ya´vve gotta aa nerve sucker – hiring tha devil on wheels fer a deal n thaan screwing the shitt outta me huh?" the man sneered. "P-Pardon me Sir, w-would you please release my collar?" the butler wheezed slightly pained. "Pffth…whatever sicko!" the guy grunted. "Geez stop pissin yerself lika aa fuckin cunt! Damn, jus gimme ma money bitch!" he cleared his throat again. "Y-yes of course sir." There was a short silence. "Haha – well done aan tell yer missy tha job´s well done!" he responded and got in the van. The door slammed shut with a metallic clank and the motor stirred to live. We started moving and surprisingly the man drove really civilized. The ride was undoubtedly the longest of my live. At every stop, I was wondering if the criminal had betrayed us and if boulders would crash through the thin sheet metal and squash us like bugs. My hard was racing and my breathing was going deep and unsteady, like everyone else´s I guessed.

Finally, the guy parked and there was shouting outside. "Gods dammit, yer too early asshole!" a man shouted. "Fuck." A gargling scream. Then suddenly the sidewall of the van was yanked outside and hit a man who was wrapped in the metal like a dumpling. The guy screamed but could not free himself. Suddenly I stormed outside the van, the light still was a bit stingy as my vision turned crystal clear. Everything was moving slowly. Lins cables were whirring smashing an instinctively built stonewall to pieces before a throwing knive embedded itself in the man's chest. Lightning was searing through the air, Mako Chouw yelling like a madman as the electricity sparkled around like dancing snakes. I instinctively ducked under the strike of a club and barreled into the man, my shoulder meeting his ribcage. I Grabbed his leg and smashed him onto the ground. The triad enforcer hit the street with a sickening, knocking sound. He looked dizzy as I frantically grabbed his club and smashed it in his face twice. "Watch out!" Ping yelled as he stopped a large earthen ball with his shoulder and flung its fragments back in the direction of the earth benders. Asami sato was wildly smashing an electrocuting rod around to keep herself away from being cut to shreds. Fire was hissing around, while Mako was hard pressed to keep his ground against pebbles.

Bumi took town a Man with his boomerang, the archaic weapon cutting clean through the cheek of a green suited man wo flung the metal piece back. It simple bumped away from my brother's breastplate as he charged at the man. The air was boiling I spun and threw hard palm blasts at two guys who were ganging up on lin. One stumbled, the other one fell on his knees and was abruptly impaled by a stone spike. Pained screams were everywhere, I tumbled, dodging another boulder. It seemed the whole terra triad chapter stormed the battlefield. "COME AT ME FAGGOTS!" Bumi jelled as his blade cleanly cut of a man's arm and a machete was stopped by his bracers. The man was moving like a demon, besides his heavy armor. I hissed as flames left a spur of pain on my side. The air was spinning and dispelled the fireblast.

"Airbender. Fuckin ship. Throw some rocks." The firebender yelled as I struck, feet set square and two fingers extended. His chest exploded in a crimson spray as the air ripped its way through his flesh. I threw myself behind the Van as earth spikes impaled itself there. "Ping – five o clock!" I yelled while Ping traded powerful blows with a green clad man whose whirring rock gloves struck pings chest with might. A Jadehammer effortlessly splintered on the Dai Li´s skull. But there again were sword wielding thugs. I stopped the first with a low frozen scythe, parried and cracked a skull with two mighty slashes of the ironclad club I was wielding. I had lost my sword exiting the van, most likely. Then my world turned dizzy as a fist hit my nose. I felt the impact rattling through my bones. There was the smell of burning flesh an blood. The man held his face as a masked Mako Chouw plunged a Jian sword through his chest, his comrades already fallen as screaming, blackened corpses. The guy nevertheless stormed on until my boot met his throat. Asami was screaming as she rolled through the rubble wrestling with a knife wielding man, until Bumi cut his throat in a flash and stormed onwards. I was out of breath as were the others, but still terra triads kept coming. It most likely was too late to escape now. It was kill or be killed now.

I blasted two pieces of earth and cobble stones to shreds, clubbed another man to death and watched as a bloodied Asami Sato was struck down by the rocky fragments. I yelled enraged, countered with a low kick, dancing viper and the prancing dragon. The guys were outsmarted by my sudden change of movements as my chi rushed harsher trough my veins. The air showed me the motions through the dust that made everybody cough. I easily crushed their throats with hard punches. The guys went down, or at least leaped at the place where I had been a second earlier. It was then a loud explosion ripped the air. I smelled burned Sulphur, flashes were in the air. I froze as did my opponents, I heard cackling laughter. My head was ringing from the noise. I used the opportunity and shoved the earthbender with a forceful palm strike, he impaled himself on his own earth spike, wide-eyed staring at the bloody stone that had impaled itself in his back. He then screamed, along with somebody else. Four cars were speeding up the street carrying new scumbags. I jumped into the van, pushed the clutch, started the motor and pulled in the reverse gear. I fixed the gas using my lead pipe and let the clutch go. I jumped away as the van jumped backwards with a howling engine, nevertheless the opened door got my head and knocked me out could as the van headed towards the incoming cars.

When I awoke groaning my head felt fuzzy, there was sticky half dried blood everywhere on my head. Also, the rest of my body felt so heavy I could barely move. I opened my eyes and looked onto a battlefield as soon as I had corrected the mask still fastened on my face. The street was obliterated with dead bodies, scorched, chopped apart or smashed to pieces by brute force. I shakily rose to my feet. The weaponry chests were dropped amidst the rubble. The van had crashed brutally in two cars, they were toppled, men squeezed like plumatos were in the crunched metal. Miss Sato – right – I´ve seen her fall to the floor. I stumbled around and found her body, my heard dropped as I saw the amount of blood and dust she was covered in. As her arm twitched broke in hysteric giggles. But where did this whimpering come from? "Miss Sato! Are you fine?" I asked yelling. She just groaned. She just stared at me, her green eyes brimming with pain. She then started sobbing, and then I heard screams – terrifying familiar screams…

Authors note: Shame on me for taking so long, but I just had too much work to do. A Master degree is not made with writing fanfics, sorry guys. Nevertheless some reviews would really pump me up.


	18. A warriors death

**A warriors death**

Adrenaline was still rushing through my veins, my hands were shivering uncontrollable as Asami Sato clamped herself on my arm like there was no tomorrow. I tried to shake her, whatever was going on – what could make Bumi scream like that? I was so worried I even forgot picking up a weapon and simply rushed inside the damaged manufacture. There I saw nothing but an heap of people kneeling around something. Bumi pained screams were loud and terrifyingly shrill. "I…aaaarrghhh…ghaaa" he sounded like e pained animal. "Hang in there Bumi! We – We´ll get you to a healer!" Lin yelled while Ping just was holding my brothers hand. I felt a searing pain cut through my heart, while a mountain settled on my shoulders. "What the hell happened here?" I roared, Bumi was shivering and spasming from pain. Asami had already broken down, she was crying, hitting her own head furiously. The young cops were absent, while Mako shivered like a leaf and could not look at the scene. I smelled burned flesh. No -No that – that wasn´t allow to happen. I rushed towards my broher, where his face was supposed to be was nothing besides a, reddish mess of burned flesh. As gagging noises shot out of my throath, the knees were wobbly and I sank to my knees mortified.

We could not bring Bumi into a hospital, he would be treated if we were lucky, but whoever delivered him there would spent the rest of his live in jail. What kind of pathetic fuckwads were we even? What kind of brother was I, that I wasn´t already carrying him into a car? "Ho-How shall we move him?" I asked while my eyes searched for something that might be used as a stretcher, of course my search was doomed from the beginning. Bumi wheezed. "K-Ki-Kill mee." He again started howling like a tortured tigerdillo, not even Yumi had screamed like that as she gave birth. Sweat of fear was dripping out of my pores as reality started swimming. I cleched myself on the present with all might, but that could not fight the bottomless feeling of utter helplessness that consumed my whole being. As Lin tried to grab him unter the armes he screamed even shriller, trashed forcelessly and fainted. I could not see Lin´s face which was hidden behind a mask of the infamous blue spirit. "Bumi – hey -hey!" she jelled and smacked him "You cannot sleep now – you hear me….y-you must fight! BUMI!" she yelled at my brothers limp form, while her voice was slowly breaking. I grabbed Bumis feet and together we carried him outside. "We must hurry, the cops will be coming otherwise." Mako snapped mechanicalle while dragging Miss Sato out of the building. Bumi was moaning, while blood and other body fluies were oozing out of his body. I highly doubted he would be able to make it. The human body held close to four gallons of liquid if I remembered correctly, tears had started to flom from my eyes and my nose was totally snot filled.

We carefully placed Bumi on the backseats of the car while Mako moved behind the steering wheel. The engine started and he rode off with screeching tires, I did not even have time to ask him where he was heading. Most likely to some black market healer in little republic, or ever just round the corner. Ping was standing behind us cursing. "Damn those fuckers. If – if ah just screw it. We´re going to have a got." He growled. And tried to start another car. He failed. Damn, how should we even escape properly. Lin frantically tried some other, whole looking cars, in let out an relieved sigh as a motor started. Sirens were howling not too far away. I guessed that the police had caught wind of our action, which of course would be on radio and in the newspapers. Not that I was feeling anything besides sadness and shame for this fact. The cars engine was not running smoothly, nevertheless we got into it and left. "Lin, do you know where to go to get outta this stuff? Do you know where Chouw is driving to?" I asked. The woman was staring on the street as a dustcloud followed us. "No." she barked harshly ad skidded around a corner. The tires gripped again, two satomobile Cs skidded to halt screeching and honking as the triad hot-rod made its way out of the buffalo flats. I could not follow Lin, who zigzagged her way through the city at a suicidal speed. Ping had started to undress in the Back of the car, while I was worrying about my brother. What if he died, what would Tenzin do if he found out I was loosely connected to this? Tenzin totally was the kind of idealistic airhead that would put us all into jail for a lifetime. But actually there was something even worse, how should I tell this to Sokka? How should I tell her I willfully murdered people today?

Even though these criminals were not much more than savage animals – still – life was not all bout coonies. I just prayed that Boomer would make it even though I had not much hope left for him. I was totally spaced out as the car suddenly halted and I hit my head on the windshield. I shook the head to clear my fuzzy sight. We were in a rather rund down looking alley. The leechy nut trees were picked clean, also the brown brick houses had more family names on the inhabitant boards than windows. The children on the streets wore shabby looking robes, or miniature suits and were eying the car greedily. I would bet that the satomobile was gone as sone as we left the street. But actually that would not be something to waste a thought on. "Where the hell are we?" I asked puzzled. Ping snorted, while Lin did not even seem to hear my question as she stomped in the middle of the street an bended a sewer door open, plaine spoken, she tore a hole in the ground. The almost man sized chunck of earth, steel and stone carelessy shattered on the street. I was to bettered to even make a snarky comment about low profile escapes. "Gods damn it – get a move on." Lin bitched and scrambled down into the sewers. I was wondering what that all was about as I followed her. The foul smell was almost overwhelming down here, also everything was sticky, moist and - illuminated! "Is THAT little republic?" I asked amazed as I beheld cave like homes that had ben built inside the mighty brick walls of the sewers. "Nope – but you could call it that way. That´s the flesh marked." Ping cursed colorfully as slim little street kids almost grabbed his pouch. Actually it was rather loud down here, nevertheless I really disliked the name of this place! Lin strode on determined even bustled herself through a group of heavily tattooed triad men.

The guys looked like they wanted to plunge a knive in her back, since Lin was most likely recognized and heavily armed, the men just snickered and turned back to their shady businesses. I heard they were talking about kidneys someone had ordered for his daughter. What were these guys even talking about? What should a child do with raw kidneys? Lin halted in front of a strange looking door, a bundle of four shrunken heads was hanging above the doorway. They really gave me the creeps. What kind a ugly shit was going on here? Were these fuckers selling human meat for cannibals? How could this even be a lucrative business?! A shiver ran down my spine. Lin entered, suddenly the air was dry and surprisingly fresh. Still the room was looking like it came straight out of a nightmare. Sweath was pouring down my neck, whatever the guys had done back in Shangyang – it could not have been NEARLY as fucked up as what THESE dudes were doing here! Ping also formed a triangle with his hands an spit over his shoulder as a serious looking young man marched up in front of us. The muscular brutes, which were casually sporting nasty looking Daos rose from their seats and started playing with their blades nervously. "Gods I hate these perverted witches." Ping cursed under his breath. "Oh – what an honor Chief Bei Fong." The young man greeted in ernest mockery. "Indeed. Can I see the patient." She asked pleading. The young man looked at her out of cool, watery eyes. "What patient? We don´t have pati…" Lis iron cable shot out of her spool and strung itself around the young mans neck. She shook him forcefully. "Don´t you dare lie to me son of a bitch!" she yelled furious. "I wanna know where Bumi is you little bastard, and I don´t give a fuck if I have ta slap it outta ya!" I grabbed her shoulder.

"Stop Lin! LIN!" I jelled as she finally released the coughing and stuttering young man from her chokehold. She was grasping for air, visibly shivering. I also had a slight tremble in my voice as I eyed the strange looking spirit statues and the water tribe ceremonial masks on the walls. The young man grasped for air and looked slightly terrified, as did the bodyguards, Ping had gripped his remaining Hammer an looked more than ready to use it. This place screamed bloodbendig, there even were glass flasks containing blood or organs I mostly could not name. I saw some kidneys, and even a human brain. Still it was not a good idea to run rampant, even if I could understand Lins fury. I too was desperate and angry, but more than that I felt a just sense of punishment. Even if it sounds creepy, that Bumi was most likely a dead man was part of a punishment for auch bolt crime. It was a reason why we never would forget we had done wrong, even though it might have been the right thing to do. Lin struggled but as I grabbed her wrist she let go while panting heavily. She obviously was short of totally loosing it, mostly because she undoubtedly was much closer to Bumi than I was. We had not met a lot after he took off with the united forces, while Lin grew up with him. He was her childhood friend for Koh´s sake! "We´re a bit upset, I guess you know why." I spoke while my voice was brimming with iron. "So – are you treating our friend or aren´t you?" I asked with an almost polite seeming smile. Of course I also wanted to rip out this pricks throat, but you simply did not do such a thing! Not when his pals were doing, spirits know what to my brother!

"Chrm… well that´s a complicated business you see…" the young man trailed off wringing his hands. " You BASTARD - WHAT…" Lin piped up while Ping simply swung his hammer and knocked her out cold. He caught her with his chest and rested her on the floor. "You see, we don´t want anything here going south pal." Ping stated grimly. "But hell would we mind if ya don´t do yer fucking JOB and tell us what´s going on!" he snarled. "Well there were two masked kids who delivered a guy with a burned off face – I GUESS these would be your friends…listen I´m just the the desk clerk of this show. And yeah I know that the guy who turned yer patient in is Mako Chouw but that´s it." He stated. "So, can we speak with somebody of authority, a guy who knows what they´re doing, how much it´s gonna cost?" Ping asked. "That would be me. We´re a rather serious business organization, despite this mumbo jumbo here." He waved his hands around an led us to the desk. Lin was groaning. "YOU – STAY – ON -THE -FLOOR!" Ping growled in her face. I could understand he was pissed, Lin had been rather close to getting us all killed! The young man sported a forming bruise, whiche looked rather nasty. The door knockers protecting the shop shared a laugh at that. "Damn, if I had a camera in the house bro." one of them muttered. "You pay in gold, no yuans yen or Koh know what – plain gold! The final price of course just can be stated when the patient goes out – no matter how." He stated chilly. "An I guess your guy goes out dead." He stated nonchalantly. I gulped dry.

"Still we´ve got the whole premium service on him. Three healers, a blood bender AND a gods damned firenation surgeon so that´s something round a hundred thousand yuan." He stated dryly. I gagged, that was an INSANE amount of money. "Well, you can lend us some body parts if you can´t pay up. Don´t worry we´ll take the stuff out without killing you and even give a free house post treatment! "You Sit have an excellent high quality skin – we could give you a nice replacement from left overs." He stated staring at me. "W-W-What!" I formed a triangle an backed off from his mockingly gleaming eyes. "Most likely we can pay." I stuttered. "Well – if ya need some cash, kidney a going really well this year. We pay ten gran for a good one. Ya know, the resin eaters always have bad kidneys an livers…streetkids also, bad quality!" he nodded. What horrid kind of monsters were these guys? And how could you transfer organs into other people? I was close to being mortified in fear, because that was going close to spirit magic if you asked me! "And what happens if people die on you?" I asked, I feared that Bumis body stayed here and was – used - but even if this was so we hopefully could buy it back. I guessed Asami Sato would be decent enough to provide the money – gods dammit stop being so negative Lee – I scolded myself. Otherwise I never had heard of somebody who survived a close to cooked head! "Well, since you don´t look like you would go home, follow me – there is a waiting room. We even have some cookies and tea." The young man remarked mechanically and led us through another door. There indeed was a comfy room with big, blue couches and calming paintings on the walls. Lin followed us, still a murderous stare settled on her face. Than the young man left us behind in the waiting room. Miss Sato an Mako were not to be seen. I seated myself on one of the couches, not noticing the pleasen softness of its cushions. Ping kneeled in front of the small water tribe shrine dedicated to Tui and started praying.

I never had thought Ping would be a religious man, but it seemed I had been wrong. His lips were moving in silence while he was igniting incense sticks. Lin just stood in the door frame dazed, she noticed her mask had been missing for quite a wile, still her face looked like hewn from stone. "Lin – come, take a seat." I stated in the softest tone I could muster, well – it was not very soft. She followed me and sat down. Her hands rested on the knees. I patted her hand, it was surprisingly small and soft. The most strinking thing was the cold her body radiated. She drew the hand away with a hard exhaling sound and also turned her head away. I sighed, wringing my hands. How long we waited in silence I don´t know, soon time lost meaning, I don´t even know if I slept in this room, or if I visited the bathroom. There was a fuzzy feeling of shock, sure I had seen people die. I had even lost people I loved but everybody who talked about things getting easier with experience was a loudmouth and nothing else. My mind was running rampant, how could this happen to Bumi? Why was he even there. That I did not know what exactly had happened inside of this building was not soothing at all. Still I did not dare to ask because Ping was praying and Lin – well Lin looked as if she would start tearing the house down or crying – or both! Suddenly I heard the clicking noise of a door opening. I flinched visibly and almost jumped from the soft seat.

This time a healer was standing in front of us. He wore rubbery gloves, as well as a blue rubber suit. He looked strange – like a spirit. The man did not seem to bother with his strange attire. His face was frighteningly normal for this stange place. He did not wear any crude tattoos, nor did he look like a sick psycho. He had a slightly rounded face with dark brown skin, an sad looking blue eyes. His brown hair was tied back into a small bun while his well combed mustache made him look rather civilized. He cleared his throath with as small rasp. It was in that second my legs almost gave in – the man did not need any words. My brother was dead. "Well – it went as expected…I´m sorry for your loss." The healer spoke with a gentle, smooth voice that sounded as unwordly as Tenzins. It was Ping who found his voice fist. "Can we – see him?" he asked in a hoarse voice, while his eyes were watery. I also had a slightly blurred vision, which just stayed clear through pure willpower. Lin simply rose, her face as blank as a sheet, I really had no idea who this woman was anymore.

The Lin I knew would be a crying puddle on the floor by now. "Of course. You can´t take his body home before the payment arrives, though." He spoke. "Sadly we can´t trust the people to pay their bills. Which is not my business by the way." He responded thoughtful and led us through a clean looking corridor. There were rooms, filled with hospital beds, nurses hurrying around like in a usual hospital. We than arrived in a small blue painted chamber in which ton´s of ice were piled up. Dead Bodies were stashed away in clean looking metal coffins. One of these coffins was open and there was Bumi. He still looked as horrid as he did back in the streets. The fact that the burned flesh had been moved away and was partially substituted by a slimy looking substance was neither soothing nor calming. Ping fell to his knees and started sobbing loudly. There also were tears escaping my eyes, I bit my Lip. I could not behave like Ping, who wept as openly as he laughed. "Don´t you want to enter?" the healer asked somebody. The clanking footsteps that hurried away clearly answered my question. Lin was running away! It was cold, so that I felt like an ice cube as I saw the icy crystals slowly spreading.

Ping rose, after plucking a tiny, jade bracelet from Bumis armored forearm. I wondered what he planned to do with it. My face was stinging like being worked with needles, expecially where the moisture of my tears was lingering around. "Let´s go home." I responded, while I placed a hand on Pings shoulder. We could walk outside. "We´re coming back with the money. I promise, so please don´t do anything with his body." I pleaded. The healer was looking stern. "You have a month to get the fee, Shin will go through the details with you. That´s among his responsibilities." The man stated chilly. It was obvious he did not like this topic. The walked behind us, making sure we took the way we were supposed to take. A badly wounded man eyed us intensely, while chewing on a piece of carrot. We were led into an office, where the young man was sitting behind a desk. "Take a seat please." He responded. "I´m sorry for your loss." Out of his mouth the phrase sounded like pure mockery. "Please – just shut the fuck up." Ping growled in his direction, while I silently balled a fist. For a short moment, something like a smile played around the man´s lips. "Still we provided a full treatment, which has to be paid. I´m rather sure that Chouw´s friend has enough yuans to cover the treatment, but just in case she doesn´t want to… The debt is 1540 yuan and sixtithree shim. Be glad we hadn´t wasted any organs on the fella." He stated while handing us a sheet of paper.

It was expensive, ornate looking paper, with blue ornaments painted onto it. I was too battered to raise a fuss about his rudeness, I just took the paper and slumped off into the sewer, as did Ping. We walked in silence, Ping suddenly disappeared in a shabby looking soju bar. He did not ask for me to accompany him – like he never had done. I headed home while my heart was slowly torn apart in my chest. What should I do? What should I tell Bumi´s nephew and the others? Would they even keep their mouth shut? Well – it did not matter didn´t it? I owed Bumi a proper funeral, and I exactly knew what kind of funeral he wanted. Even if it was almost thirty years since we had derived a funeral plan in the tiger´s den. I sniffed as tears burned behind my eyes and I forced a smirk on my face. It hurt – the smile actually hurt. "feast in the tigers den – who the fuck shall pay that Boomer." I shook my head. If Bumi had known, he would not become an old man? For sure he had tried more than most 90 year olds that died peacefully in their beds. I wondered though how I should manage to invite all of his friends? Also Tenzin definitely would do everything in his might to prevent his brothers last will, I was sure of that. Tenzin would not stand a traditional air nomad funeral. Well – it was the hardiest way to part from somebody you loved, I knew that well. To let go with a smile, how the fuck was I supposed to do that? Bumi was dead because WE, because I did not take enough care of him. So to speak his death was on us! Nevertheless, I would write a funeral speech and buy some old fire cognac – that was what Bumi always wanted on his funeral. A good funeral is like a good marriage, loud, wet and full of booze! That was what Bumi had said. I had no idea where in this good forsaken city I was, so I just walked somewhere. Even Republic was not endless – it would just take some time until I would find a path that lead home. The night fell as I trotted though dimly lit steets with an aching body. My head was feeling wobbly and I had to rest myself often. Luckily it was summer – a dry somer the more.


	19. Falling

**Falling**

Lin Bei Fong felt something soft under her hand, she tried to squeeze as something screeched and squished. Her head felt like it had been used as an anvil. She groaned her vision was blurry, her mouth had a sour aftertaste. She mindlessly pulled the pentapus from her forearm, not caring about the blood seeping out of it. The wound did not even hurt thanks to the little animals spit. Even if she just had woken up on an illegal manure heap she wanted to get wasted again. She tried to remember the blurry events of the past days. It was there like a heavy cushion pressing her exhausted body down in the wet leftovers of Rep City. BUMI IS DEAD! My goofy friend is gone. She gulped hard, why did she not have tears? Why couldn´t she cry like a normal human being, if it was hurting so much that she almost could ignore the severe concussion she must be having right now.

The woman blinked, the sky was blue, the sun shining brightly as if it was mocking her. She sat up groaning, not interested in the fatty strands of her gray hair hanging around her head like a mop, entangled with some rotting cabbage shreds. Her world was spinning a little as she shakily got up. She still was wearing her armor which was scratched and dented in some places. Luckily, she still was somewhere in the buffalo flats, because nobody here would bother with a useless wannabe cop like her rotting in their dumpster. Angry sadness crept through her very being, while her eyes were burning. Her balled fists trembled as she forced herself to be calm. Her knuckles dug into the shabby brick wall with almost silent, cracking sounds. The hole in her chest still grew, then she mechanically left the backside of the House with slow, steps, her head was hanging low and she felt like all energy had been drained out of her body. No , I cannot break down – I have a job to do – a job, she kept telling herself mechanically. But instead of returning to the bunks, or even her office Lin Bei Fong was stopped by a screaming newspaper serf.

That also was something exclusively limited to this city. Instead of dirty, pickpocketing urchins the city had a ton of officials who were selling the various different newspapers and magazines that were printed every day. "Death of Bumi, Son of Aang…the aged playboy finally succumbed to drugs? Read the news directly from Republic Times Front Cover… JUUSST 4silver straight to your doorstep!" the man shouted with a well-trained voice. The people were calling Bumi a drug addicted playboy. He was a HERO, a man who sacrificed his own life for the greater good! Before Lin Bei Fong had grasped a clear thought, she was choking the man, shaking him violently. "Shut the fuck up - useless asshole! You don´t know who Bumi was you annoying fucktards! Can´t you even let the death move on in peace - son of a bitch! That he died for fuckers like you makes me sick! Sick you gods damned bastard!" she yelled furiously, while the newspapers hit the dirty pavement and the frightened official tried to yell for help.

The man tried to remove her hands from his throat but failed miserably, Lin was a rather strong woman. She finally released the man, whose face had turned a flaming red. Street urchins had been staring at the scene. Lin was panting. "Holy fuck lads – isn´t that Chief Bei Fong?" one of the kids asked, mouth agape. "Hell, yeah Chin – that´s the Chief looking fucked up like my ma after a shift tigers den." Another kid stated snickering. "Dang – should´ve had a camera – well that´s how it feels when pals die." The boy laughed. He wasn´t even sixteen, a bony shot up teen with a damping pipe in his mouth. "Help – help me!" the official yelled. "This woman is a crazy imposter! Kids – get the boys from the triples – dammit can´t they do their fucking job!" he cursed angrily. "And you – are in a whole lake of trouble, you- you crazy ass chick!" he growled almost poking a finger in Lin´s face. The woman was clearly out of it, she blinked as she felt like collapsing on the spot. Her arms were trembling and she turned and walked off with tapping strides off. She did not care if some triad enforcers came after her, or if her escapade was printed in all major newspapers.

The kids were whistling. "Eh chief, how much for a blow job? Three shim?" one kid yelled. "Shut the fug up Kuang, wanna get smashed to pieces or what?" another one hissed fearfully. "Don´t ya see that bitch has totally lost it?" Totally lost it - the words were piercing her spine like burning arrows – was she really so fucked up? Lin Bei Fong had fought all her life, but now it all seemed utterly pointless. What was she, what had she achieved in her life – nothing. She had run the police force but crime had not diminished for a shim. She had no family, no children – she didn´t even have close friends, all because she was born a damn Bei Fong! Where was her mother's praise now – nowhere! On top of that, the stubborn old hag liked living in a spirit infested swamp full of mosquitos and pentapusses! She felt her head spinning, pulsing like crazy, Lin Bei Fong grabbed her head with both hands as she felt a Rock approaching, she lunged forward and simply smashed it back with brute force. "Go fuck yourself you goddam motherfucker!" she screamed and was hit by a brick. She felt a rib crack under the hard punch of the stone.

"Strike Bitch!" a man laughed and launched an array of stone pillars at her. Lin did not even think about using her cables, she simply grabbed a growing spear, cracked it off and threw it at another thug who narrowly escaped the deadly round. She stomped tearing half the street open, earthen balls the size of a man were hurled around like puffy cushions as lin howled like a rabid wolfbat. The earth benders braced themselves against the lumps of earth and concrete that were hurled at them with a surprising accuracy. Even their defense kata, mostly cowering boulder and hard fist slowed down the impact, still they god knocked from their feet bruised and battered. The other thugs screamed in fear, but even staggering around and ducking did not help them much because the enraged woman simply rushed into the first man, jamming a throwing knife deep into his thigh. The man collapsed screaming as Lin kicked him against his head furiously, she than tore an iron gas lantern from the ground and hurled it at another man who went down screaming, clutching his shattered ribs. The last man had already pissed his pants, seemingly terrified.

"P-Please – just just take me to prison!" he yelled as he rose his hands in surrender, his cheap looking dao blade clattering on the remains of the street. "Jail – jail – none of you bastards tried to take Bumi to jail!" she screeched and hit him with her gauntlet gashing up half his cheek. She punched again yelling and again. The man fell unconscious and hand Lin not missed his head punching directly onto concrete without using her bending, she surely would have killed him on the spot. So, a searing pain shot through her fist and hissingly clutched her hand, still the red mist was lingering around the edges of her conscience. She looked around at the mayhem around her, what in all heavens had she done? It was than Lin Bei fond lay down in the hard street, a coppery taste in her mouth and her face sun burned. Sounds between laughing and sobbing escaped her trembling limps silently but the tears still remained burning behind her eyes.

She had sobbed for quite a while as the wailing sound of police sirens approached the scene. "Oh damn." She stated. What should she tell her officers? How should she explain her absence from work in the last two days? They definitely would smell that something with her was fishy. But even if she tried her best, she was not able to get back on her feet, despite tears rolling out of her eyes from the piercing pain that resonated through her head and torso. It was shortly afterwards a police car stopped and heavily armored men jumped on the street. "Holy shit shorty, what kind of hell broke loose here." Lin recognized the high-pitched voice of Sergeant Officer Taisho. So, Lei Lin Tang should be with him, dam Sai Khans brutish bootlicker! The man was dangerous, like a rabid dog on a really short lash. Still he was of utmost efficiency in the republic riot squad and the special operations – she had never found an opportunity to suspend one of her highest decorated officers!

Still she had tried her best to make Tangs life miserable, maybe not one of her smartest moves in retrospective. "I-I dunno – maybe some kind of fucked up spirit. I mean look at the world going all bonkers. Damn Avatar." The man cursed frightened as he looked at the group of criminals groaning and writhing in vain. "Well boys, time to get the shit slapped outta ya nasty brats!" Tang stated triumphant while taking the handcuffs out of the car´s trunk. "Yes Seargent." Taisho stated as the men started cursing him colorfully. "you sons of bitches get the fuck off. Don´t ya think w….ghaaaa!" Lin heard the lashing sound of a metal cable, occupied with the pained shrieks of a gangster. "Anybody else here likes ropes?" the officer asked, his voice brimming with joy. Guys like that were what made Lin furious – but she was to battered to jump on her feet or yell loudly. "Tang, stop it!" his colleague yelled. "Aww come on pussy – I´m just roughing the guy up a bit!" the other man chuckled. "Or do you intend to be a motherfucking snitch Taisho?" he responded, his voice a dangerous hiss.

"Ya know that snitches always drop the soap don't cha?" he threatened. "N-No – but – but seriously the guy will - will bleed all over the car! A-And the trunk will start smelling bad…" Taisho responded with a rather thin voice. "Haha – always caring for the equipment Taisho…. sweet…still I´d like to get the guys in front of me who did that." Tang smirked doubtlessly, while the other man was shuffling around nervously. "Well than, I`ll get them loaded and call for backup." Taisho responded. "Yeah. Do that. AHHH you're trying to escape, how bold." "No. No sir. Please don`t beat me." The guy pleaded, soon he screamed pitifully as Tang whipped him bloody. "Eh look there´s a cop…. you fuckers dared to hit one of us?" he growled infuriated. "I´ll teach you scum not to mess with the law again. Cause I AM THE FUCKING LAW! Got that?" Lin heard the crushing sound of shattering bone and splattering flesh. "I´m going to do this to anyone of you shit-bags if I hear you ever again lay a hand on an armor like mine! Look – I SAID LOOK YOU BASTARDS!" Tang yelled.

This guy really simply killed a man in broad daylight, that was going too far! "Tang – you are going to jail with the whole lot of these thugs." Lin croaked as she somehow managed to sit up. Tang was a good looking, young man of usual built. Just a blazing red scar on his forehead, most likely a gash from some blunt knife, indicated he was capable of violence. His green eyes widened in shock. "C-Chief?" he blurted out. One of the earth benders had lost his head, brain and blood splattered across the street. Tang was of course not stained with blood. He quickly regained his composure. "The whole station is worried – I myself could not find sleep the last two days." He stated ironically. "Just shut the fuck up!" Llin growled. "You´re fired, hand over your badge. Taisho, arrest him!" Lin commanded. The other officer had returned. "Chief. W- what are you doing here? Why didn´t you inform anybody if you went undercover!" Taishos haggard face showed a hinge of righteous fury. Still he looked at her doubtful. He at once hurried over to her.

"Carf-"Lin wanted to warn the man before he dislocated her broken ribs any further. "Eh Taisho – take a piss would cha?" Tang asked his colleague nicely. "Uh – I don´t need to pee?" the man responded. "I SAID – take a leak, or you´re gonna leak Taisho." The officer stated serious. Taisho flinched visibly. "You have overstepped your borders by for - officer Tang." Lin snarled. The young man smiled brightly. "CAPTAIN Tang, from tomorrow on." "Tang – stop spurting bullshit." Taisho stated silently. "Go take a piss." Tang waved nonchalantly and walked up to his colleague. Lin felt her guts constrict, that was bad – Taisho was a man Tang could defeat blindfolded and one-armed, even if he would be giving his best. Finally she would be not able to subdue anything in her current state and this asshole of course saw how weak she was at the moment. Was he really thinking of – killing her? Fear settled in her chest as her eyes widened in realization. It had never crossed her mind that Sai khan would be that ruthless! "Do you really think you´ll get away with killing me?

The shirshu squad WILL find out I was here – and no matter where you hi…." She started rambling upset as Taisho sunk in a bending stance. He went down without a sound, his head cleaved from his torso with one of the bandit´s daos. "N-No.." Lin hickuped almost as she watched the smiling officer, the bloodied blade hovering in front of his hands. "Surprised huh?" he smirked an ugly smile as he kicked the woman in her chest, she screamed in pain as splintered bone was finding a way through her skin. "I don´t need to kill a – mad terrorist bitch! " he spit out. "Do you think we know what you and your friends did Bei Fong?" he sneered, Lin just hickuped and grasped for air, while her chest felt like being torn apart. "Ya know – Lin Bei Fong is dead now. You´re just a measly old bitch now!" her armor was ripped away from her body, she felt so utterly powerless in front of this man – who could do anything he wanted with her right now. Had she just ignored this damned newspaper official!

"P-Please…" who was this person begging with a shivering, broken voice? Was that HERSELF? She tried to crawl away from this monstrous psychopath, who clearly was enjoying trampling her! "Yeah – if ya rich ass bitches get a glimpse of the real world, you´re just useless cunts." He laughed at Lin, who was laying on the street in her grey weapon overall. "Do yourself a favor and don´t do something stupid like going to the medai, because nobody will believe ya!" He responded towering over Lins writhing form breathing heavily. "For if yer do, we´re going to court and you´ll go to hell along with the whole Bei Fong name." he spit in her face, the fluid was burning like acid. She struggled as he gripped her head with both hands and broke her nose with a forceful headbutt. She was silent as as something gelly-like and warm was flowing down her cheek.

Then she screamed as she felt pain like never before – her right eye, was gone! She screamed until her voice broke, officer Tang was long gone, along with her torn armor and badge. It was much later that she saw a person lift her from the floor. She was icy cold and so hurt she didn´t even know who – or how many – people were carrying her around. Then there was a rough, rasping voice talking to her, keeping her away from falling asleep, and there was pain, she struggled as something was burning in her face, something poured over the bleeding remains of her eye. "Bite yer tongue. Bring me the water child." There were other people holding her trashing arms, legs and head down. It was a felt eternity of torture until the people stopper wrapping bandages around her torso. Finally, she had to drink something utterly bitter, something that made her feel all fuzzy again, but still she breathed relieved as the pain subsided and she fell into darkness with deep breaths, thoughtless like a wounded animal.

How long she had been unconscious Lin did not remember, there was just a haze of uncorrelated pictures. An old, toothless woman, a poorly dressed, spindly boy and a haggard, coughing man who gave her water and other fluids. There was a ceiling with a long, hairy crack running across it. When she finally awoke - her head was pulsing like crazy, her breathing was labored and old sweat stained her whole body and a low groan escaped her troath. She still felt unpleasantly hot. "W-water please." She croaked with a brittle voice. There were knitting needles rattling, the soft sound stopped and the old woman rose. "Oh – you´re awake Miss Bei Fong." She responded with a soft tone that made Lin cry. Her name – she had lost her name – her family – everything! She had brought shame to the family. She was a honorless woman. She started crying bitterly, even if her ribs hurt with every sob. An old, withered hand was grabbing her hand roughly. "Yeah – let it out girl. There, there." The woman was mumbling. She started shohing like a baby, while Lin started telling everything, about Bumi, about Tang – the old woman did not seem to care, or understand what she was babbling with a heavy tongue. Still it felt good that somebody was there – that she was not fully alone.

Comment: Rather short, but hopefully intense. I´ve always thought Lin was sitting on a bunch of bombs, why else would she temporarily loose the Job as Chief in the series just because her BENDING was taken away? That would make no sense unless people wanted to get rid of her anyways! Well an now that legitly has happended. Of course the guy went a bit over board but well...psychopaths tend to do so! Any feedback from you guys? BTW. check out "The canals are Burning" one of the gold pieces among Avatar fanfics...


	20. A soldierboys legacy

**The legacy of a soldierboy**

How I managed to smile at my customers for the whole day still amazed me. If you just gave yourself a task you could devote yourself to without thinking for a shim, you could get through anything. Life had taught me the hard way - but that wasn´t healthy at all. It just bottled all the sadness, the rage up and someday – someday all that exploded into somebodies undeserving face! I was checking the soy sauces, which were ripening in their clay pots. Salty, slowly turning highly viscous. They were all right!

I had talked with Ping yesterday since the whole media of the city went rampant. There were two headlines. „Bumi Son of Aang succumbs to aether overdose?" and „Squirreltoad kills Chief Bei Fong in broad daylight." I had almost lost my breath reading the headline, but after reading the articles I could rest assured. Lin definitely had not been killed in her office. She had been so out of everything that she would have never entered her workplace. And even if she somehow would´ve kept her shit together, it would have been much too risky to show up battered and bruised one day after the spectacular „Buffalo flats massacre". The was what the bloody journalists had title our operation. Interestingly Bumi´s death had been shrouded in mystery. The papers were writing things about drug-addiction and suicide but there was not a single word in the articles that led to the assumption that somebody from the press knew that he was related to the massacre.

Captain Hung-shu had taken office as Chief in comission until the Council had elected a new Chief of police. I highly doubted that anyone besides this jackass Saikhan would get in Lin´s seat. That was mainly, because I assumed that she had been too stubborn to write some kind of professional legacy. I was thinking about packing things up and leaving republic city – even the whole republic. But where else should I go? I had not much money left – I could not take Sokka away from her dream like that. And leaving alone was something I wouldn´t like to consider just yet. My daughter had shown up as soon as she heard of Lins murder. She definitely had noticed that something was off. My little girl was behaving so gentle I wanted to run away and hide in the smallest hole I could find. She hovered around me like some kind of overprotective mother. I barely noticed the cup of miso-soup Sokka placed next to my limp hands. „Dad – would you please eat some soup?" she was eying me with large silvery eyes. Sokka even patted my back as if I was a five year old. I felt guilty as hell. I was not someone who deserved pity right now. That Bumi died was just a consequence of our actions. Those who kill may be killed – it was as easy as that.

For my brother these words came tue in a rather harsh, but – it happened. Water flows down the yellow river, as the people of Ba Sing Se say. My face was twitching as I tried to remove a frog from my throath, while stirring in the clear soup without a clear thought. I did not even notice the meaty smell of the rather strange miso- soup. Sokka had always had an extravagant taste and under usual condition I would have already gulped the soup down with a shot of soju. Otherwise her cooking was similar to torture. Hippo-cow based miso soups were just the tip of the ice-berg. „You shouldn´t pity me Sokka." I stated harshly. My daughter just frowned. „And -why?" she was looking so innocent my insides churned. No – this is the path you chose Bei Gao Lee. I remembered a promise I made a long time ago. That I would stand tall. „While I was selling noodles in front of the police station I got to know Mako Chouw." I responded with a gruffy voice while some soup spilled over the ceramic bowl. I did not notice that I was stirring quite vigorously right now. „He´s a nice boy and somehow seems to like me – seemed." I corrected myself. „You know, after the – the Incident." fear, disgust and rage were flaring over Sokkas face as she stealthily wrapped her arm around herself. He eyes were wild, like a scared rabbiroos. She just managed an unarticulated noise and nodded.

It seemed I should talk on, even though it got harder with every word I spoke. „The squirrel-toad case was assigned to him, since he´s a war hero and such. But the kid really had too much else going on. I don´t know what exactly, but it seemed he had some things to figure out in his personal life. We didn´t chat bout this. So he was stuck in his case and I gave him some hints. We even went to his old dojo to train." I responded. My childish motivation for training, which seemed kind of ridiculous right now, remained my secret. „And then suddenly he disappeared for a couple of days. Since he´s been living in the bunks he had been my customer at least once a day. So I worried, and asked Ping about him." I responded. „Ping Hung shu?" Sokka asked quizzically. It was astonishing how many things I had not shared with her since we weren´t living together anymore. Was that usual for parents and children? Since my childhood had been one big mess, I should not take it as some kind of standard. „Yes. You´d be genuinely annyed by the old rascal." I responded truthfully, while Sokka snorted and tapped on the floor with her manicured fingernails. „When Chow came back he was totally hyped. He had found the hideout of these – these terrorists. He found out that they´ve been manufacturing weapons with stolen machinery from Sato Industries." I explained to Sokka, whose face dropped. „Well Chow didn´t tell me straight forward. He just told me he wanted me on his taksforce meeting. Gods dammned mess it was! These terrorists were Dai Li Sokka – and Hiroshi Sato had invented these hellish weapons for them. He had built half his empire on this single deal, which was now backfiring quite spectacular. All because these fuckers wanted even more effective weapons from Asami Sato – who of course could not give them such things. Instead of involving the police however, my pals wanted to play herous. And – and these idiots insisted on going to their warehouse and cut em down!" I was closed to yelling, still upset about the sheer idiocy of Chows oh so brilliant plan. I did not notice that Sokka was gasping as I somehow managed to tell her the truth. „What should I do Sokka? Should I´ve let Bumi and Lin go to hell alone? And these Idiots- these Idiots didn´t listen – they insisted. Even though I warned them – I told em not to mess with the dai li. And with the terra triads on top of it." I rambled. „But they didn´t listen and so I went with em and – and we just killed them. And – and my brother died on us." I stated silently while tears were again welling in my eyes.

Sokka was staring at me. She had no idea what to do with her old man, who was crying silently. „That doesn´t make any sense dad." Sokka croaked, her voice hoarse. „Why would people do something like that?" she asked, obviously not able to follow my fragmented narration. „Dad?" she was pleading, which made me bury me face in shame. What kind of horrible, pathetic father was I? „I-I-m sorry Sokka. S-So Sorry." I mumbled with a thick voice. „I-It was so horrible." I was was barely able to stop myself from babbling hysteric nonsense. The images were flashing in front of my eyes and I felt as if I could smell the scorched flesh again, along with Bumies cries. I spaked out and stared into nothingness, with my fists hectically clenching and unclenching. Still my daughter remained sitting there, suddenly she descisively crouched closer and took me in her arms, where I could slink together. „I- I don´t know what to do Sokka. I really don´t." I admitted freely. How should I fulfill Bumis last wish? I simple did not feel as if I had the strenght left for doing that! We stayed in an uncomfortable, haft sitting, half kneeing position for some time, until my old bones started protesting.

While my cheeks still were moist Sokkas eyes were dry. I was proud at the strength she displayed. Damn, I really was getting an old sentimental geezer. „Your brother will be burried tomorrow – it´ll be a public funeral. At least that´s what Tenzin told Mr. Shinobi in an interview." Sokka responded. I had been to cought up in my self-pity and work spiral to notice this important news. „So, we´ll also be able to attend it. I´ll go with you if you want." she offered with a shaky voice. Of course Sokka was relatively unfazed about Bumi´s death. She had never met him, so why should she be touched? Still, he had been my goofy, funny little brother. Even twenty years of absence could not change that – twenty years of absence I now regretted. We should have spent more time together – like brothers should, right? I should have talked to him about serious things – like what he wished for in his life, if he was happy.

But I did not do this, and now – now it was too late. Damn, I was short of crying for the umpteenth time in the past three days. I was wondering how Chow and Asami Sato were holding up, or where they were to start with. Even though I barely knew the young people, there was a bond that you could not ignore. You didn´t fight a battle with people and simply walked away from them. If you don´t believe me, then ask some veterans about it. I managed a wry smile, if young people like them walked the earth right now my generation didn´t do everything wrong – wasn´t I right? „Thank you Sokka – I´d really appreciate that." I responded with a rough voice. „And now eat your soup dad – it´s getting cold already." Sokka stated while suddenly staring at the soup. „Yeah." I responded like an obedient child and started eating it in the same manner. It was indeed a hippo cow base with miso and tofu in it. The stuff was outright disgusting, but I was too battered to make a fuss about it. Also Sokka had put her very heart into making this soup, I was eating for her sake anyways. „So- Chief Bei Fong is also dead?" Sokka asked.

Her voice showed that she was more involved with Lin. It had this subtle, wavering lilt. Sokka always was like this when she wanted to tough something out. I was surprised over the security my voice radiated. „No. I´ve no idea what she´s doing right now but she isn´t dead. Lin would´ve never gone to work as if nothing happened. No – she was way to shaken up for that." I responded. Sokka gulped. „You know that the girls are totally shocked. Korra even cried for half an hour as she read the article. But dad – I – I know you love these people. But – Isn´t it possible you didn´t know Chief Bei Fong as good as you think? Killing someone in the police station! That´s definitely what these squirreltoad bastards would do! We have to face facts right now." Sokkas voice was brimming with steel, while she had balled her hands to small, brown fists. She maybe was right, it felt as if glowing needles were jammed through my ribcage. What if she was right? It was unjust that Lin should die a death, like a dog in the gutter! Wasn´t it true that she had been made a bitter, lonely woman? All this due to an overdeveloped pride and a hated Job! Bumi at least had led a joy and eventful life! And if Lin had been killed like that, then who was next? I was frightened that it would be me – and what about Ping and the youngsters? „Dad?" Sokka was looking at me worried, I had spaced out again. I released a mumbling sound and focused at my daughter. What kind of monster could kill people over something as trivial as a promotion?

The Dai Li still were the shady rulers of Ba Sing Se as well as of the great cities! They had money, power and servants. Why – why did people kill just to get more of what they already had plentiful? And why for Tui´s sake must these bastards always show up in my lawn? I wiped through my face, without a doubt looking very old and desperate. „You said there was an article Sokka. Do you have it?" I asked my daughter. Usually the journalists in this city were worse then pentapusses. Sticky, conscienceless bloodsuckers, which had a network of street urchins, post-men and officials at their fingertips. To my surprise my squirt nodded solemly. „I´ve thought it would interest you – I mean. I know you´re hurt. I-I." she sniffed descisively and shook her head. „Well – it´s strange to see you so...um...weak?" she stated shocked. I almost laughed at that. Had my daughter thought of me as some sort of ironclad hero, who jumped straight out of a fairy tale? My eyes were still watery. „Well- I´m afraid like hell Sokka. I´ve thought these days were over but they aren´t. My family still gets in the way of criminal scum and I can´t do a thing." I admitted in a low voice, while I was somewhere between bawling and trashing my furniture to pieces. Sokka just straightened herself. „You can dad – you can keep yourself out of this and become an old man – with a grizzly bead and silly long eyebrows." she croaked while staring at the wooden floor. We both knew that I couldn´t simply walk away as if nothing had happened, and Sokka of course did not like it. She wanted me to stay safe. But if I had heeded her wishes she also would have been deeply disappointed in me.

I hadn´t raised her to turn a blind eye and run away from danger just because it was the easiest thing to do. She fumbled in her frockcoat, another fashional abnormity of this self proclaimed modern age, and returned with a slightly crumbled sheet of paper. I wiped my eyes clean and started reading the article, the headline was partially missing since it had been torn from the original newspaper.

… _.ltoad murders Chief of Police on duty!_

 _On the tenth of the snake vile murderers struck in the heart of our cities security force. Lin Bei Fong, our esteemed Chief of police – a hero of the people, was cowardly murdered inside her very own office. Is there still justice in our United Republic? How can it be that villains are able to infiltrate the police´s headquarters and kill somebody in broad daylight? Captain Ping Hung-shu, as the oldest serving officer, has taken over the position of Chief of police until the Council of four nations has decided who shall inherit Chief Bei Fongs position. He responded that it is „not explainable" how the culprit could enter the building and execute the Chief in the most brutal manner. Dear Citizens, how safe are our streets? Who shall protect our children from the suppression of triads and other foreign scumbags? This all are questions the public asks and even Captain Hungshu has no clear statements to this topic. Nevertheless he responded that the police of Republic city is facing many problems at the moment._

 _Might these problems be corruption and internal powerstruggles? Upon a closer investigation of our reporters it turned out that Chief Bei Fong suffered severe burns before dying at the hands of her murderers – the office itself also was rendered to a scorching pile of rubble. This could be verified by a number of shocked eye-witnesses. Of course the fire nation ambassador Shigeru Yaemon ensured that he will do his utmost to investigate, if the murderer shows connections to the agni kai triads, with whom the late Chief had many encounters during her twenty-nine years of valiant service. Still there was a crimson squirreltoad located on the crime site, as Captain Hungshu said himself. He stated that the police will offer their „utmost effort" to catch the culprit responsible for this monstrous deed._

 _Chief Bei Fongs funeral will be held in seclusion from the public, due to her last wishes. Still Pang Xuan Do, the current Councilman of the earthern nations has recommended Chief Bei Fong for the Republic-Medal of Service. Furthermore a council session shall deliberate about renaming the current square of four nations into Lin-Bei-Fong square..._

I stopped reading there and furiously tore the article to pieces. These nationalistic scumbags! How could they dare to blabber about naming a bloody square after Lin. She hadn´even been buried and these people treated a heroic woman like her as if her life was just a nice story they could tell at teaparties! „Bloody whoresons – these imprudent little motherfuckers!" I started swearing enraged. „Yeah – these dudes know no respect. They´re just making money out of this." Sokka added and fueled me into a full blown cursing fit. I finally stopped breathless, feeling somewhat relieved. Still this article had a clear message. Lin Bei Fong was dead, but she had not died. It was highly unlikable that Lin would be killed by some firebender without tearing down half a building. Furthermore the office had no extra thick door and walls, so nobody could have been able to burn Lin to death without a lot of people noticing it! Lastly the Squirreltoad operatives would have shot Lin, since they were earthbenders, or maybe even non-benders. And finally it made no sense that they burned her after the murder. After all they were Dai Li – people who thrived on the fact that they were feared by everybody! No, most likely someone else had been burned instead of Lin – maybe this was some sheme of corrupt cops... Or the dai Li had already infiltrated the police department! If that was the case though... dammit I was drifting off into conspiracy theories. No – just leave the police in peace Lee, I scolded myself. I would have to leave these things in Pings and Chows hands, since I was no officer anymore.

Sokka was sitting there, playing with a small scroll."What´re you reading Sokka?" I asked her to lighten the mood. She shrugged. „The lovers of Lady Xuan." she responded. I was shocked to hear the title of a quite populare romance novel out of my daughters mouth. Usually she stuck to things like „the congquests of Cau Xi." or „the adventures of Tur-rak of Unalak." Was she in love? I just hoped she hadn´t fallen for some womanizing jerk! I blinked stunned. Sokka seemed to notice something was off. She giggled. „You´re looking as if I was telling you I was dating a married man." she responded grinning. „Are you?" there was plain shock in my voice. Sokka just started giggling, she couldn´t stop and slowly started turning redder and redder, there were even tears flowing out of her eyes as I somehow joined her laughter. It took quite some time until she had steadied herself. I wuzzled her hair. „Well – I´m not used to a girly Sokka." I admitted honestly. I felt a sharp sting as her fist collided with my shoulderblade. Damn it, her punches were getting even sharper and it seemed she was not noticing it. I eyed Sokka more closely and found out that she was getting broad as a skaghouse – at least if we applied female standards.

„These Kung-Fu guys have been working you quite hard." I responded astonished. Sokka rolled her eyes. „Dad – stop saying weird stuff like that." she whined. What was so weird about...oh – yeah... „Not all people are as rotten as you are, Sokka." I quipped back. „Well it´s a rough training. You were pampering me quite hardcore dad." she pulled up her sleeve and revealed a big assortment of yellow and blue bruises. „It´s for hardening bones and tissue. We all smack each other with wet sticks – luckily they use the thin ones on me." Sokka grumbled dissatisfied. I sighed. „Why are you so hell bent on this martial art shit Sokka?" I asked my daughter. For the first time I had noticed just how unusual this interest of hers was. Why did she want martial prowess so bad that she was pushing herself so hard? Sokka eyes were adamant. „I´ll be strong dad. I don´t want to be some damsel in distress - you know that. Also I´ll win the golden fan!" she stated as if her words alone could make that come true. I´d like to believe that she had it in her, but as a father I couldn´t be happy about my baby girl getting beaten with wet sticks - could I? I just tried a smile – who was I to keep her from her destiny... if such a thing existed at all. „If that´s what you wanna do." I shrugged. She smiled.

* * *

„Thanks dad – I mean, a lot of fathers would be rather upset if their daughters pulled stuff like that." she responded. „So, a round of corners?" I asked to occupy my mind. I did not want to think of Bumi or Lin right now. I couldn´t depend on making rational decisions at the moment, so it was good to get them out of the head and think rationally tomorrow. Finally my daughter was here and I knew that she would object to me searching the city for Lin. I guess every sane person would, since I would not be seeking her in town squares, but in places like little Republic or the buffalo flats.

I was dressing myself up. Today would be my brothers funeral, so I would wear my best robes. Even if they were crimson. No, I would wear them because they were – Bumi wouldn´t want people to attend his funeral in white. He wanted his urn to rest on the bar of the tigers den... But I was rather sure Tenzin would not allow his brother to be buried in a brothel, even if it was a classy one! I tied my hair back in a Ginko Topknot, in a desperate attempt to look more formal. Sokka would stop by – the squirt was exhibiting quite the cute, motherlike streak. Sadly my search yesterday evening hat not led a step closer to finding Lin, it was as if she had been gulped up by Republic Cities sewers – I just hoped that damn hellhole spit her out again. On the other hand my missfortune might have been related to the fact that I didn´t know the streets of this city anymore. The hobo-hangouts, as well a the corners for drug-traffiking and whoring had shifted and even a few nights would not have been enough to get a hang of them.

Sadly I had not met up with Mako, also I marvelled if Chow would believe me. He could quite well be da core with the mainstream media – or worse, he could have lost his edge over this. I was accusing myself for Bumis death sometimes, even though I was the one who had tried to talk all of us out of this idiotic plan! I could only imagine how Miss Sato and Chow had to feel right now. While I was absentmindedly staring a the cracked mirrow, which I had recently dragged out of an expensive stores garbage bins, somebody knocked on my door. I flinched and thought about grabbing my sword before opening the door – just in case the terras didn´t do their job properly. I restrained myself, since it most likely would be Sokka. I opened the door and was astonished to see Sokka and the whole bunch of her roommates on my doorstep. Kajar, the oldes of the bunch was scanning my flat with an unnerving intensity. „Hey dad." the squirt hugged me close, she had even applied some kind of sweet smelling perfume. „I´m sorry but they just didn"t let me go alone. Especially Kayar is hellbent on going to the funeral, it´s almost scary." Sokka mumbled into my ear. I sighed slightly frustrated, I had not expected something like this!

„Hey... erm I´m not prepared for that many ladies." I responded bluntly, while the girls greeted me in the typical clingy watertribe ways, which meant – they hugged me. „Mr. Lee, may I use your bathroom?" Kajar asked in a typical little girl voice. Dammit – that woman was the last one I would like to have in my bathroom! Seriously – not even Katara had been THAT nosy! I was wondering why the nurse was so interested in me, was it because she found me attractive? Since I wasn´t sporting fancy clothes and a new Sato-model S this could not be about getting settled for life. Or was it maybe because I was Sokkas dad? These gals were awfully interested in Sokka and treated her almost like a spoiled little – brother. Korra and the remaining two watertribe girls were mumbling something behing uprised hands. I just picked up the words sea-prune, stew and scratching. „Yeah – erm off course!" I almost stuttered as she squeezed her voluptuous chest past my shoulder without even awaiting my answer – nice brown melons they were! A smile was playing around Sokkas lips, I would´ve loved to slap her head right now! If this wouldn´t have been so indignating... The other girls also were peaking in my flat. „Sorryyyy it will take longer." Kajar hummed from the bathroom, she seemed content. I just stepped back – yeah, trample all about my freshly cleaned floor you wenches – I cursed inwardly. „You also could come in." I responded while the youths streamed into the flat eagerly. Korra seemed quite disturbed by the cleanliness of my furniture since she swept her finger over the table absentmindedly. „He must have a woman." she muttered under her breath in a slightly triumphant voice. I was short of laughing, what an adorable country-bumpkin.

I was asking myself what this northern woman did in my bathroom. I waited until she finally had attended to her needs and left the small room which I would not visit in the following hours. „So, we´re ready to go?" I asked while trying to sound not annoyed. „Yes, of course Mr. Lee. You really have a nice flat." she responded smiling widely. I nodded – did I look like a savage? What kind of man wasn´t able to keep his own flat clean? No dear listeners, I don´t want to get any details about bachelor flats! „Isn´t cold? In the winter?" Korras Guang zhu still was horrible. I guess that came along when you surrounded yourself with peoples from your tribe. Actually it was a wonder that Sokka had not started to talk inuktikut. On the other hand I knew quite well that my squirt hated learning new languages. Also her academic skills – sadly – were almost as extraordinary as her late mothers. But different from Yumis case, this was solely related to my daughters indifference towards anything containing theories and written words. Since my daughter was able to read a newspaper article without fail and calculate her household budget, I was content that she could come to terms with the world. „Yeah girls, let´s get a move on, we´ll be late otherwise." Sokka piped up, miraculously the other women immediatly left my flat. I was so baffled I had to return inside to ´pick up my keys. „Didn´t my neighbours make any problems?" I asked scratching my head. I couldn´t imagine the gangers to simply ignore the fact that a bunch of good looking, young women arrived in their neighbourhood.

Sokka chuckled. „Of course not – your neighbours are so drunk I just needed to give em a slight push to send them sprawling on the street." she responded with a devious smile. I gulped – yes, Sokka was a reckless one. Aang was nowhere to be seen, which most likely was the reason, why his boys had started consuming their own goods. Suddenly voices started singing in the building on the other side of the street. Two rather beat up seeming boys, they were seventeen at most, had gathered some kind of lead drainpipes and were waiting for us. „Eh – don´t cha think that bitch´s gettin cocky for a second time." one of them blurted, he was sporting a pitch-black eye along with a bloody nose. „EEEY Chan, Tian – come on the hen´s are back. Let´s give em a hard banging woulcha?" he yelled inside the building. Sokka spit on the street. „Fuck off or I´ll not go easy on you fucktards." she growled while Korra and two other girls shrieked like scared Chickenpigs. I took a deep breath and focussed. Shift forward, extend right palm. „Oi, wads noodlellleeee." the boy was just blown from his feed and hit the floor with a heavy thud. His compagnon had already risen his weapon as a „circling scythe" of Sokkas sent him on his knees – she finished hin with as sharp, perfectly measured sidekick.

She had improved drastically since I had seen her fight last time. It filled my heart with a silent pride. „Ehhh Ladies! You wanna come´n grab a...Oh fuck, tiger – slicer." the guy yelled. Three other young men saggered outside, they all were roaring drunk. „Whoa – I – I think I need a beer." the last of the young men responded in a slurred voice and rose a bottle to his throath. One of his comrades smashed the bottle out of his hands, it shattered on the street before us. „Shudda fuck up. Let´s beat up that ol fucker there! Thinking tha limpdick can take our babes!" „Righ give us yer damn money bitches – n then scram!" The guy who lost his beer blubbered just to be punched out of his shoes from his mates. These guys had decided to manly stumble down on the streets and charge us with thundering warcrys. Since the watertribe gals obviously were scared shitless we could not simply run away from these drunken idiots. Sokka smirked. The only other person who seemed to have some wits left was Kayar. She yelled at the gilrs to back up. I went in the basic iron-wall stance characteristic for kung-fu, as did Sokka. The dudes just stormed forward, being all full of openings. I shifted my weight on the left leg and delivered a high kick, much to my surprise it connected perfectly and sent the young man tumbling I closed the distance, delivered a headbut and a short uppercut in his liver. He he was gasping, I stepped back, the time was slowing down and I could hear a wooded bat collide with the street. I caught the second guys weapon in midair, my palm protesting from the impact. A swoop felling trees and he crashed on his shoulder with the full force of his weight. Sokka had efficiently taken down her oponent with a well aimed ellbow-strike. „Hah – see Kayar. That´s how a girl does business!" Sokka piped up. I blinked. The guys were rising again. „Stay down boys – or I´ll kick ya right into the endless fog!" I growled as I walked towards Mr. Slicer.

Chopping iron – my hand hit the boys head with a hard thud and he collapsed without a sound. Sokka also dealt some punches until the drunkards were either groaning in pain or finally unconscious. Luckily it was not so easy to kill people with your bare hands – at least not unintentionally. Kayar stared at Sokka wideeyed and the other girls, seemed to have noticed the size of my shoulders. „H-How did you do that?" she blurted „T-That were four armed men." she stammered while we hurried onwards with fast strides. There was no need to get caught up in further quarrels. I just hoped that Aang was a reasonable man and decided to not destroy my property. I highly doubted that he would, mostly because his boys had misused his liquor before screwing around with the wrong people. „That was just awesome Mr. Lee – you´re a real warrior. I´ve never thought a small man like you could be so strong!" one of Sokkas friends chirped impressed and grabbed my arm. I just frowned – the hell was this kiddo thinking? I wasn´t a bloody pedophile! Sokka just giggled like a maniac while whispering with Korra. „Eh...no need to clutch my arm like that – it´s not falling off, ya know." I stated gruffy. The girl released my arm startled, I walked onwards. Suddenly Sokkas friend started apologizing for her rude behavior. I stiffled a frustrated sigh. Just how meek were these northern women? Didn´t they have some kind of pride? I started to get really annoyed now. „Shut the fuck up woman – god´s dammit." I rumbled. „Have pride for a shim for Koh´s sake." I shook my head while the girls bottom lip was trembling – I wasn´t paying attention to this shenangians anymore.

„Dad – stop behaving like an asshole. Indra just has a thing for old men." Sokka snapped while Indra turned beet-red. I flinched at my daughters chilly tone. Why in all heavens was my daughter more eager about finding a wife for me than I was myself? Weren´t daughters jealous at their stepmoms? I snorted and stomped forward – I really should have gone to the funeral alone! „Ah – um Sir " the Indra girl started again. I decided to simply ignore her from now on. Kayar had closed up to the young girl and was telling her something in a hushed voice. Hopefully she was explaining her that behaving like an obedient floozy was short to the worst thing any self respecting woman could do! I still doubted that – strange nothern customs and all. Sokka now grabbed my sleeve with much more gusto. „Dad – these are my friends. Stop behaving like an impolite eyesore. Just - How the bloody fuck did you end up with mom!" she murmured annoyed. I just frowned even more, now looking outright pissed. „Well- I´ll keep that in mind when some middle aged baldy fondles your ass Sokka." I quipped back.

„Pah – you won´t dad. We both now that." Sokka responded superior. Sadly the kid was right. Meanwhile we were close to the temple of Sosanoo, where the funeral ceremony of Bumi, son of Aang was to be held. Even though the temple itself was a large, open pagode we were far too late to make it inside the temple. I could see a lot of metal-bending officers standing around, also a ton of orange robes were flapping in the slightly moist breeze. Alas many people had gathered, the most of them just being onlookers getting their kicks out of the large event. Tsungi Horns, cymbals, drums and gongs were played ,delivering a strange and otherwordly tune. Monks and nuns were chanting Mantras I couldn´t possibly understand. The smoke of incese sticks was wavering through the air in thick, cloudlike shapes. At least four temple servants were bending the smoke into the crowd with perfectly controlled, harmonized movements. It seemed that Bumi had been reduced to ashes before the official ceremony, since no pyre could be seen. Tenzin and his family were resting on an assortment of chairs close to the temples center. I recognized my brother by the prominent blue tattoo that ran over his head. It was a melancholic feeling that gripped me during this rather dignified ceremony.

Korra and the strange daddy-issues-girl had started bawling already. I felt the need to cheer them up somehow, but I definitely hadn´t that in me at the moment. Something must have given my feelings away, since Sokka grabbed my hand silently. Hers was much warmer than mine, whicht might have been due to me eating quite irregularly over the last few days. I definitely had to quit that bad habit, since I could not afford to collapse on the job, or be sick. Bumi definitely would have brought some kind of booze to this funeral, but I somehow lacked the motivation to do so. I definitely was not as brave as my late brother, especially not if it came to defying rules of society. Sure, I wasn´t what you called your average citizen but I also didn´t feel the need to protest against every rule of the social establishment – like Bumi did. I somehow drifted off in some kind of stupor, since the monotonous melody went on an on. It was sudden that the people started murmuring. „What´s that? It´s chilly..." someone exclaimed. I turned my head and – felt some chills. The numerous little hippos that were living all over the temple district were gathering around the temple, circling it with a loud humming sound. I tried to focus on the air but felt a stinging pain in my forehead the very instant I tried. The slight breeze turned stronger and some people already dropped to their knees in fear or started yelling.

Some even tried to run away. Whatever was going on here, it definitely was not worldly. The watertribe gals were spitting on the floor three times and started chanting the seven scrolls of La. It was a quite common custom in the north to do so, when you wanted to ward off evil spirits. Sokkas grip had turned to Iron. „The hell´s going on dad?" she sounded quite shaken, I also felt my hair raising. There was static in the air, greenish, pale flames flaring on the roofs of the pagode. Demon fires they were called back in Ba Sing Se. The Hippos were still screeching and flapping their myriads of wings. Some of the temple servants darted into the people too, to flee from the spectacle that was taking place at their temple. The wind had started roaring, while most people were already sunken to their knees, frantically praying to the gods. I was rather fascinated – never had I seen such a beautiful sight before. The hippos were blurring into glowing streak of all imaginable colors. I was totally in awe – were the gods of the city that pleased with my brother? Or was this some kind of trick some priests played by making some stragne incantations? Still it was an awe inspiring scenery, which made me feel quite unimportant and small. The spirits seemed to densify, while the light turned to white and i had to close my eyes! There was heat, massive heat and a bright white Light that even was visible through closed eyelids. I yelled and dropped to the ground while pulling my daughter beyond my upper body. The heatwave washed over us and suddenly there was silence – only the distand sound of running satomobiles could be heard.

Even the Monks had stopped chanting right now. As I stared at the cleaned cobblestones of the temple square I wondered what hat happened. „Could you let me go dad?" Sokka asked me with a humming voice and wiggled out of my arms. I looked up and let out a sigh of wonder. I beheld something that was so beautiful it hurt my eyes. The highest roof of the pagoda had been replaced by a platform, which was made from shimmering, white jade. And on top of this roof my brother was sitting in the lotus position, mug and cards in hands. No artisan could have captured the essence of Bumi Son of Aang like this. He sat there with a crooked grin, while looking at his cards with a cunning expression. Tears were flowing across my cheek a my heart s eemed to burst in a painful explosion. I was so very proud at my brother, whose life had been accnowledged by nobody less than Sousanoo himself. So they were out there in the realms – Sousanoo the trickster, Lu Feng the Jade emperor and all the other gods people talked about.

I smiled, an strange certainness spreading through my chest, a certainness that life itself wasn´t meaningless. „Whoa." Sokka was staring at the statue in awe, as were other people who started chattering. A lot of them hurried away, obviously frightened by the event of today. „Where´s the Avatar – we need her." someone asked and tried to send people to fetch Korra. „Wher´s a damn bushin when ya need one?" some other people rambled. I just stood there like a rooted Bamali tree. I couldn´t see enough of the statue, which somehow seemed to carry a spark of good old Boomer. Even though it hurt I had to smile. My little brother would have been so proud that his chest could rival the peak of mount Wuji shije itself. „Just take a good look at that bro." I responded, not noticing that I was speaking aloud. I did not notice what Sokkas friends did, but mostly they also were staring. It was just now that the people from inside the pagoda emerged, through a slightly blurred sight I noticed that they all looked sickly pale. To be confronted with so much spiritual energy definitely was not healthy.

I tried to get a grip on my emothions, but it seemed they could not be stopped. I just walked forward to get an even better look on the statue. Some idiotic impulse almost made me believe that Bumis spirit would still be there, or maybe it was just that I wanted to talk to the family. I don´t know why I walked closer. Sokka decided not to follow me, most likely because she did not know anyone from airtemple island. Air benders were forming some kind of guard around Tenzin, but they looked rather seasick. Some of the young men even started vomitting. Much to my surprise the first one who noticed me, pushing myself through the ring of young men, was the Avatar. Korra looked collected, almost content – she was beautiful. „Hey Lee." she greeted me, obviously remembering my name from the infamous party-night we had to shae due to Bumi´s - convincing. I suppressed the chuckle at the thought – this old rascal Bumi...

„My condolences Korra." I responded with a steady, deep voice. What else should I say? That it was my fault? That I was sorry? All these things were natural and if she wanted to blame me she would do so anyway. I now noticed that Mako Chow was absent, Asami Sato nevertheless was close to Korras feet. The young woman was sobbing profoundly, while Tenzin looked a her with an emotionless expression. I eyed my halfbrother frowning. Just at a close look one could see that his beard was not as perfectly trimmed as usual – also his bald head was less bald than. The kid also was grieving; somehow I felt solidarity towards my younger brother. His wife was trying to console her eldest son, who was clenching the long jian sword that once had belonged to uncle Sokka – and then to Bumi. The boy looked terrible, with a snot smeared face, puffy red eyes and clenched fists. He also had quite the shiner over his left eye. Ikki and her boyfriend also were present, while the girl was sniffling on the young mans broad chest Toza just stared at the wondrous statue. He still wasn´t able to comprehend this whole thing. Well, to be honest, I also would need quite some time to accept that such a massive Statue had been made from – nothing!

For a short moment it seemed that Korra would blurt out a snarky remark, or even smack the shit out of me. Then the blazing azure eyes of the Avatar dulled, her shoulders slumped and she simply walked over. „Doesn´t hurt as much as before, huh?" she stated while pulling me into a onearmed hug. Meanwhile more and more people demanded for the Avatar´s interference, which was somehting she simply ignored. My daughter however did not ignore their rudeness. „EY This is a gods damned funeral you ASSHOLES!" Sokka yelled infuriated. I flinched. - what in all heavens was the squirt charging into? What if people decided to throw stones, knives and heavens know what at her! My heart almost stopped. Much to my wonder she propelled herself upwards with hissing air currents. She flew higher than I ever did. I felt my knees turning wobbly at the lone sight as her body streaked though the air like a missile on new year´s eve. She landed right on the pagodas roof and seated herself on Bumi´s shin, which was quite large. „See – nobody´s killing me." my daughter was waving her hands around and almost lost her balance. Korra just looked up in awe. „What the hell...Who´s that girl." she stated taken aghast. While the Avatar was marvelling I felt like my very life was drainid away. What the hell was my squirt doing in the lap of this magically created statue! Maybe the damn jade block was possesed!

The other people also stared at Sokka, some even started yelling at her. „You crazy woman, come down here at once!" „Do you wanna get us killed?" some of them were furious. „See – nothings happening to her!" „WOOOOAAH." „Lee, you seem quite unwell – you face is really pale. Are you ok?" Korra asked, which finally brought me back from my horrified stupor. „Unwell? UNWELL? My gods damn daughter is havin a fucking riddance with tenthousand, winged, squeaking bombs and YOU ASK ME IF I´M UNWELL!" I yelled rambling. „No, Im PERFECTLY FINE of course. I mean, who doesn´t expierience that every day- huh? Could I have some jasmine tea? A chair – oh and maybe I could also have some cotton candy!" I rambled on, while feeling nothing short of relieved. Sokka of course saw my ranting and hand waving. She still remained on the rooftop and simply ignored the people, who luckily weren´t as agitated as I was. What the hell had my daughter been thinking? I supposed she had been thinking as much as her parents in her years – but that wasn´t an excuse! I was panting heavily as Korra just stared at me with large blue eyes. „Y-your daughter?" she was taken abhack, obviously I didn´t seem like the daddy type to her.

In the meantime Asami Sato had somehow collected herself, even if she looked outright sick. And I guessed that I didn´t know a healty looking Asami Sato to begin with! Her eyes were bloodshot, she had grey rings under them an sported a sickly, whitisch taint - which gave her an almost otherworldy appearance. She was wearing a white kimono, her wavy black mane bound into a tight bun. She just stated at me, rubbed her eyes and stared again. „Lee – why aren´t you wearing white?" her voice was carrying a silent accusation. I blinked. „You – know each other?" Korra wrinkled her brows. „We´ll have a talk lateron, the people want their Avatar." she frowned a serious frown and rose herself into the air with a large pillar made out of compressed earth and cobblestones. „People of republic city." she yelled while resting her hands on her hips. „I´ve no idea what it was that the spirits of our city did today. Even though I may be the bridge betweent the two words, I sadly am not a priest who spent her whole life on researching the spirit realms. What I know though is the following; Bumi Son of Aang was quite the special man, to me and to many others. Those of you who do not know him in person may think he was a shallow, drooling playboy, who succumbed to girls, alcohol and drugs."

she paused. „That´s not true. Yes, he was anything but a conservative citizen and he certainly did not live in monogamy or abstinence." the young woman cleared her throath. I nodded in thought. „But I´ve never seen him turn a blind eye on injustice, or on violence. Bumi never insulted a woman, he never judged people because they were different from him. He had two faces, like Sousanoo the trickster. The very same man, who was playing pranks like a little boy and behaved outright ridiculous in public stood up for the values of our united republic whenever the need occured. When the troops of Kuvira stormed this city he fought for all of us. As the Kurogawa clan rebelled he served in the united forces and was awarded with the golden kite and the kyoshi medal of honor. As the first soldier of the united forces. He survived the cannibal subjungation campain in the woods of Mu-an without loosing his bright smile. As the red lotus tried to murder me – Bumi also was by my side." her voice hitched. „And still he always told idiotic jokes like his whole life had been nothing but sunshine." She pinched her nose. „Finally he never respected me as the Avatar." she smiled. „And that´s the reason why I can not believe that the spirits wanted to express anything besides their respect, and their gratitude for his life." she spoke and pointed at the statue. I followed her finger and didn´t see Sokka anymore. Most likely she had used the opportunity to descend from the statue and get the hell away from her own courage. „That, is the man I know, it´s not some kind of spirit manifestation, It´s just a wonderful statue that no human artist could have made." she paused. „And now my dear friends, let us go and live to the fullest, just like Bumi did." she spoke with a loud voice. Tenzin had closed the space between his family and me. He just stood next to me, seemind unsure what to say. Then he somehow got a grip at himself.

„You know – whenever I said to Bumi he should take a breather from all his worldly shenangians he always responded he wouldn´t have time for that." Tenzin responded more talking to himself than to me. I blinked and cocked my head. My brother, who was at least a head taller than me, had a bitter smile playing around his lips. „I´m thankful that you went with him Lee, I know quite well that nobody could stop Boomer when he had decided something. He wasn´t responsible if it was about himself - actually it´s a miracle he got that old." he responded while clasping my shoulder wiuth a strong hand. Again there was piss in my eyes. I had expected to be shunned, even assaulted or taken into custody. Instead TenTen was saying thank you. I just sniffed as a response, while Korra decended from the large column. She really was excellent if it came to impressive entrances and exits. Asami was still standing next to us like some half-baked bread. „Is that a way to greet an old man Miss Sato?" I quipped and stared up at the young woman, while spreading out my arms. It was kinda embarassing, since she did not embrace me. Actually she wasn´t even looking at me, she looked at Korra and Tenzin. While my brother just sighed in her direction – it seemed he was quite insecure what to do with Asami. It seemed the two of them weren´t that familiar. Korra seemed to have reached a conclusion. „What´s done is done Asami." she seemed quite angered at something.

„And you´re right – I can´t do anything like that – no matter how hard I tried. I´m just half a human after all." she responded and softly punched Asamis shoulder. „I guess I´d have tried to change your plans, but since things are like this. Let´s make sure that Bumi didn´t die a meaningless death Asami." she responded with a bitter smile. And with that Miss Sato sqeezed the shit out of her friend. I could just nodd to that. Even if we had stopped the Dai Li in the united republic – which we couldn´t be certain about yet – they surely were driving forward their plans in the earthern nations. This new type of weaponry definitely had to be kept from the wrong hands, even if Sato Industries had to resort to building better black powder weapons for the united forces! I for once weren´t a big fan of this innovation, but hell – nobody asked for my opinion. Since the funeral ceremony had been interrupted so spectacular the priests had no clue what they should do any further. Simply starting where they left off before the spirits intervention was as improper as not continuing at all. So they decided on doing the latter and simply stood around like lost puppies. „Can I see his urn?" I asked Tenzin who nodded. In the meanwhile the officers had started to slowly disperse the mob that had formed and still was rather eager to have further glimpses at the Councilman and his family.

„Of course – he was your brother as well." he responded disturbed. I was wondering if he knew something about Lins whereabouts, it didn´t seem like Tenzin to simply ignore the fact that she had been declared dead. Even though my brother had broken Linnys heart he did genuinely like her as a friend! But since the walls might have ears, I did not mention this topic and followed him into the open pagoda. The praying mills were still turning by something that at could be described as chilly feeling, unnatural air currents. In the middle of the temple, directly in front of the two steps tall statue of Sousanoo a simple brown clay urn was seated. It had the shape of an oversized mug with a silvery lid. I crooked an eyebrow since the urn looked rather morbid. That was exactly Boomers taste. Tenzin followed my look and sighed. „Bumi would have wanted it that way – he explicitly described how his urn should look like. He left a ton of letters for everyone." Tenzin shook his head. „But still - I´ll not let you rest in – in..." his cheeks turned reddish but he didn´t say the word. I smiled, that totally was like the prude, levelheaded teenager I´ve gotten to know decades ago. „Lee – please." he whined as he noticed my smile. Tenzins wife was still consoling Me Lo, who seemed inconsolable. He really had been close to his uncle, that much was for certain.

His sister also looked rather sad, while snuggling into her boyfriend with a puffy face. I knelt in front of the urn and bowed, once, twice, thrice. It was common to part ways like this in Shangyang and even if I had seen much of the world in my life – these rites were close to my heart.

 **Authors note:** It´s been one hell of a time for me. But I´m back sorry guys but getting you degrees is more important than writing fanfics. I hope I´ll update the story more frequently. Also - a happy Christmas to all of you.


	21. Interlude: Returning from exile

**Interlude: Returning from exile**

The old woman next to him ached under the load of a heavy bundle she was carrying on her head. She looked rural, even for the standards of the swamps of the Kwanto. Kinochi Saito was a young Engineer working for Bei Gao Contstructions. It still was strange to live in the earthern nations, where everything was different from home. The people here were adversary to innovation. They did not like the thought of something displeasing their ancestors, and finally they were just so – unreadable. He still did not understand if somebody was agreeing with him or not – because the people always complimented him on his ideas. Back on the steep flanks of the Fusohi islands everything was simpler, the people were bolt and gruffy. But they were honest and hard working. Something that could only be said for few of the higher ups in earth nation society. The workers from Omashu however eluded him even more than the peasants and lords that lived in a strict hierarchy that had been broken half a century ago in the fire nation.

When he took on his work as a supervisor of the train line that should one day connect Omashu with Tsing Tao he had been startled at the strenght of his worker workers. It was almost inhuman, their progess by far proceeding the discussed time schedule – until the men collapsed like flys. The engineer had been astonished and asked his foremen what had happened. They stated that this was an inexcusable mistake of the weaklings that had picked up work at the railways. They told him they would make sure that the new men could work more than sixteen hours a day. What kind of monstrous mindset was that? And these people dared saying that the firenation was full of she-vixens and murderous butchers! That had shocked the young man to his core. He simply had fired his foremen and gathered the workers to thank them for their effort. They had stared at him as if he had stripped himself naked an pissed in their faces. Still his boys had started adoring the young man like some kind of deity. Some of them even went so far as to call him the southern saint behind his back. He smiled at the doubtful compliment that this rumors carried.

The old woman had set down the bundle with a heavy thud. She had to be much older than seventy years, even though she was the size of an elementary school child. Her clothes were made of yellow and green patches that had been loosing their colors for several years. She was so poor that she couldn´t even afford shoes. The engineer was wearing loosely cut, green throusers, high, polished boots as well as a green tunic. His hair was done in the style of the earthnation, as was his black mustache. It was bad enough that his amber eyes made him stick out like a three legged oostrich-horse. The small, makeshift station was run down and frequented only by faring folk and other scoundrels, as the local farmers muttered under their breaths. They disliked the trains, which were full of foreighn workes, who would lay eyes on their daughters. Mr. Saito had long ago stopped to explain to them, that this was just due to their rotten, more than vivid, imagination. They feared the huffing steemengines that reminded them of demons and evil spirits, even if the engineer never had heard from a steam breathing Kappas, or the likes! Nothing had ´prepared the young man for farmers sabotaging his work and denying him rooms. But in the meantime he somehow had adapted, had learned the local dialect of Guang zhu, had bribed local officials and even taken a liking to the clothing style of the local lords. But now he was leaving this boring hellhole for his long deserved vacation after three years of inhumanly hard wolk. There had been no day where he hadn´t risen with the sun and worked until it left the heavens.

Back home on Fijshi nobody would have let a gradmother carry such a heavy weight. His conscience nudged him. Still, things like these would be highly improper here – since he wasn´t that womans grandson. It was baffling how different earth nationers behaved to their family, they were well mannered, caring and outright nice people to their clansmen. But to strangers... they were quite superstitial scumbags! He was waiting for the train to take him to Republic City. There he had some pals from the academy, who were waiting for him. Jotaro had written that future industries was hiring in the construction department, due to a quite big mining Project in some little town named Lau An. The had found excellent iron ore there. Actually Saito was thinking about screwing his job if he got a foot into the huge, republican company. There the working conditions were much better, even if the wage was just half of what he earned right now. But he could not imagine doing his job for another ten years, for if he did he could organize his funeral, since his body wouldn´t stand the strain. Therefore he would not have to grovel under the boot of his survisors like a wiggling maggot anymore. Also he hoped that he would find a wife in this big city, since the country girls here were just too – simple. He expected more from a wife than a wet vagina, cooking skills and obedience.

He looked around, maybe one of the youngsters sitting on the wooden train plattform would aid the woman. They were waiting for the next train and hoped to catch a whiff of the wide world. The engineer smiled, he remembered his fourteen year old self having the same look as he looked out into the small fishing harbour of his home island. „Damned wood, can´t see a damn. As if stone was some expensive shit." a rough voice croaked annoyed. It took a while until he found out that it emerged from the stern looking old woman besides him. She looked very anxious somehow and – unimaginably threathening for somebody so tiny. He was short to coughing as he remembered that nobody was near him who could hear his response to the impolite woman. And since nobody was there he hadn´t to play indignated. He was wondering how she could have gotten here – because she definitily was not part of the locals, nor was she part of the savage tribe that was making more an more problems for the company.

How a watertribe branch had errected his dwellings in the middle of the earthnations was a miracle, but nevertheless the swamp- spirits had been here for centuries. And they definitely were objecting the doings of his company. Storage huts had been burnt and workers that strayed from the construction line – and hence the sharp eyes of the badgermole company 21 – had been beaten up so bad they had to be sent home. In his opinion it was just a matter of time until the watertribe would attack, and when that happened Hiroshi Saito would like to be as far away from this bloody swamp as he could. Still he had signed his contract and contracts had to be honored. He blinked as the old woman again muttered a curse that was far from befitting a lady. He eyed her more closely, because he was wondering, what wood might have to do with her sight. He then noted that the woman should not be able to see much at all. Her hair, wich was crafted into a huge, whitish bun on the back of her tiny head was rather unkempt and hung all over her eyes like a curtain. Also her head was not moving an inch, even though she seemed quite insecure about something. „Excuse me Madam, but what exactly is dislikeable in the case of a wooden train-platform?" He asked the woman with a hint of curiosity in his voice. The woman flinched and stumbled a steb backwards, the engineer wanted to catch her but she cought her body with a strange, fluid movement that belied her many years.

„Holy spirits – can´t ya damn slabberfuck intoduce yerself lika a bloody civilized being?" the woman snapped at him. He jumped into the straight position of a soldier since his father had ingrained firenation discipline into his very bones. Some of the teenagers were laughing at him, but a simple, indignated stare from his amber eyes made them silent. „There is no need to be so upset Madam! I was however politely standing next to you." he responded quite startled as the woman glared at him from under her long bangs. „Aho so that´s what yer kids nowadays call starin at honest people. If I were in ma prime I´d slap the ever livin shit outta yer noble butt!" she rambled rather annoyed and switched into some kind of strange dialect to add some colorful remarks. Some of the teenagers turned beetred, so it seemed the woman was swearing quite excellently.

Just where did she come from? If she belonged to some troupe of artists she would´ve never been let alone like this, and Hiroshi Saito could not imagine another earth nationer to swear like this in public. Still it started to annoy him to be the target of her raving. „Just stop behaving like a bloody Jia Shinrí." he growled while he felt his pulse rise, he had been rather gallant and this were his thanks?

The woman stopped and started laughing loudly, another impolite behavior for a lady. He blinked, what was so funny about that? „What the hell´s a fireboy doin in these swamps?" she asked. Still it seemed she wasn´t really interested in his answer, even though she had asked. „I´m building the railroad for Bei Gao Constructions, Grandma." he responded. „It´s not easy to say the least." he added sighing, actually he felt all gloomy as he remembered that he had to return into these swamps in two months time. The old woman snorted. „Yeah – with this bunch of pious fuckwad´s thats a damn understatement kid." she stated. „OH NOO these iron rods surely will make my wife infertile! Brother Lie Hong what shall we do? Oh Brother Ling Hong there´s just one thing we can do... WHIP THE FOREIGNERS...Yeah – I know how these idiots work!" the woman mused frustrated. „I´d not have phrased it so blunt - but you´re right. So I´m very happy to have some time of vacation. I´m taking a closer look at Republic City, I´ve heard a lot of quite intersting things about the Republic, since some of my study buddies are working there." he responded. It was rather strange how much his life had changed since he was able to take on the Avatar Aang scholarship after elementary school.

The man blinked as he realized just how far the son of a poor, illiterate fisherman had come in a mere thirteen years. The old woman nodded. „I´m headed there too." he voice was gruffy, it seemed that she didn´t want to go to Republic City at all. Since she did not elaborate her thoughts any further it was Saitos turn to show initiative. „I guess you´re visiting family?" he tried to continue the conversation, old people always loved talking about their family, that much was a given. The old woman just countered with a genuinely pissed „Shut the fuck up asshole!" She then simply walked off until she was standing at least ten feet away from him. The bundle still was resting at it´s place. Hiroshi Saito scratched his head as he looked at the old woman. What had he done wrong, and would he someday also turn into such a sour old person? It was just now he noticed how tipsy her steps were, she also was tapping the ground with her feet as if she was blind. What the hell had he done wrong right now? So he stood there feeling quite awkward, he was relieved as the train finally arrived.

It was a small, experimental train, which was only pulling a single waggon. The machine stopped with screeching brakes. The wagon was close to empty. Only a bunch of workers were sitting there, their simple clothes dusty, travel cases and rucksacks resting in front of their feet. The train operator stuck his head out of the train. „Train to Oma-shu, departing in ten minutes, Ladies and gents. He descended from the drivers cabine to sell cards to potential passengers. Of course the man knew Hiroshi and hurried up towards the young man to pay him his respects. „Greetings Master Hiroshi." the man babbled and bowed low. Since the engineer wasn´t of noble breed he wasn´t called Lord but Master, a title ususally used for artisans, martial artists or poets. He nodded dimissive as it was proper for somebody of higher status. „May the spirits bless you." he responded in traditional manner. What it was that made him buy two first class tickets instead of one he would not have been able to describe a split second after he did it. Even though the man was quite distuberd he did not loose his friendly smile and obediently handed him the two, yellow billets. They wore the sign of the Bei Gao railroad company as well as the stamp of the Republic City traffic works.

„Tickets – Tickets to Omashu, Republic City and Ba Sing Se. Tickets for onehundredandseventy yuan!" the man screamed according to protocol. Of course nobody else was interested, the old woman was walking towards the official. „Excuse me Ma am." the engineer started as he dropped his face. The woman took her hand out of a dirtied sleeve and presented a whole palm full of nail sized goldnuggets.

„Gimme a ticket to Republic City pal." she stated dryly. „You can keep the change." she added in the same, nonchalant manner, while the poor official was stuttereing incomprehensible things as he greedily gripped the gold. „Oh uh thank you mylady." he responded as soon as he finally remembered his manners. He went as far as lowering himself on his knees and bowing low. Hiroshi couldn´t fight the feeling of disgust – low bows weren´t something a man was supposed to do for money. It just felt slimy and unmanly and the fact that every serv in the earthnations was doing it more or less frequently did not make is less disgusting! The old woman was totally unfazed as if she were indeed a lady of standing. „Get the luggage rounded up and be careful!" she rose her finger obviously thinking about a fitting, what happes if phrase. Never had he seen a serv more eager to carry a filthy bundle of rags and - heavens knows what, The man almost tripped over his own feet and lifted the bundle. He obviously was startled by its substantial weight. The womans lips twitched. „Eh pretty boy – need a hand with that?" she mocked the train driver, who was flushing pink at the jovial offer of an old grandmother. „N-No no, everythings fine." he almost yelped as he squeezed his private parts between the strange bundle and he almost crossed legs.

The engineer could not fight a grin out of his face, even if he managed to avoid laughing out loud. The old woman however stumbled towards the train. „Maám..." the enineer caught up with long strides, willingly offering his arm to the old woman who stared at him furiously, even though her eyes were of a milky green. The eery gaze, combined with an annoyed frown made him back off immediately. The woman muttered something under her breath, he meant to identify the words „annoying brat" Instead off colliding head face first with the train, like Saito had expected the woman banged her palms against the steel as soon as it was in reach. She sighed a content sigh, muttered something and steadily walked towards the still closed door of the wagon. The engineer blinked disturbed and stared at his two cards. What had he wasted half a wage on exactly? And this crazy person wasn´t even thanking him. „What a bloody waste." he grumbled. „I´ve never told ya to buy two tickets in the first place fire-fry." the woman responded without turning her head.

An almost lazy seeming flick of her hand and the iron door of the wagon opened itself with a creaking sound. He blinked again. A metalbending, strange old woman that cursed like a sailor! And here he thought these swamps were something you got to know after a mere three years. Still he felt blood shooting into his head, then he reminded himself on his status as a grown man and followed hastily, the kids of course were laughing at him. He snorted annoyed – without a doubt rumors would be spreading. Rumer that stated he was associating with travelling riffraff – wonderful! Hiroshi Saito clenched his jaw – people always had laughed at him but up till know he had proven all of them wrong. He, who has the last laught laughs best – he believed in the old proverb. He entered and the idle talking of the workers stopped at once. „Greetings mylord." they bowed eagerly. Different from usual the word lord was spoken in a hearty tone and not in one of polite obedience. „May the spirits bless you." he responded and added „please don´t be formal in my presence gents." he responded and wanted to fasten his suitcase on a row of seats. „Pleas lemme do this m´lord." a grizzled worker responded and jumped from his seat. He almost tore the suitcase out of Hiroshis hand. The engineer held fast and chuckled. He wasn´t some kind of porcellaine prince – he was a healthy man in his late twenties! He frowned. „Erm...I can handle my own suitcase pops." he blabbered, dammit – my reputation – his noble self screamed in pain! „No no, please it´s no hassle m´lord. I owe his lordship me life! Pleas lemme be of service!" the man was short of crying so the engineer released his suitcase with a startled look on his face and watched as the man tied the suitcase to the seat as if he was placing his own firstborn in it. Saved his life? Hiroshi Saito was quite disturbed as he looked at the man an tried to remember where he should´ve known him from. Nothing in particular came to his mind – well, he did quell a fire in the workers barracks some months ago. Being an exceptional firebender had been what had enabled him to attend the royal academy in the first place. „I´m sorry but I can´t place you." he responded while he felt dozens of eyes on him. Even the old hag was looking at him, she finally had stopped smirking unnervingly. „Oh-oh yes, when the fires broke out some months ago in the baracks the oven fell on me – I, I couldn´t move and his lordship dragged me out there an carried me to the healers." he replied bowing deeply. Had he done something like this? The half and hour he was dealing with the barrack fire were nothing but a blurry memory of smoke, screams and singing heat. He shook his head. „No need to kneel in front of me." his voice sounded rough – open gratitude wasn´t something he had expierienced often in the last three years. He always had been the foreigner – the evil firenation Lordling who was a necessary evil. He blinked descisively. He remembered something he had read in a silly juvenile novel. He heard the voice of the fictional Kaito Nobunaga in his head. „A man may be lord over himself before he desires the title of Lord"

It was not the time to loose face, the young man was brimming with happiness and pride but his face returned into an expressionless mask. „I accept your thanks serv and appreciate your service. You may go now." he responded while the startled man nodded, bowed a few further times and then hurried beck to his mates with the bowed head of the servile class. The welkomed him with clasps on the back an silent whispers. „Oh – so there´s an actual man beyond the silk robes? you´re one funny firefly." the old lady quipped almost flirtatious. This irksome little woman! All his built up dignity crumbled away as he searched for a proper remark. He closed the distance to the woman who was placing her mudstained, calloused feet on the cloth of a seat. He planted his hands at his hips a nd frowned his angriest boss-frown. The blind woman of course was left unfazed. „What in Koh´s name have I done to you?" he asked with barely surpressed anger – not only had he wasted twohundredtwenty yuan for this woman, as a reward he even was mocked! „Ugh you´re a funny distraction kid." she responded dryly as if she was talking to a todler – not to an tall engineer. He was funny? He felt his chi simmering into his palms, they became hot. Still he seated himself next to her. „Listen – stop ridiculing me until we arrive in Omashu or by the mother of faces, I´ll forget that you´re a woman." he hissed in an icy voice. „I balled my fists in my pockets for three goddamned years, and you are on the best path to ruin what little reputation I´ve built..." he did not need to add further threats. The womans eyes flew wide for a moment. She fidgeted with her rather thick, calloused fingers. She didn´t say a word. „Well – I´m worrying about family. I might be a bit sharp-tongued." she responded in an almost pouty tone. Then she stared into nothingness, or to be more precise, dicectly at Saitos chest. He didn´t know an appropriate response, most likely this was as close to an apology as he would get. Still this woman irked him – she behaved like he wanted to behave after all. He waited for her to quip another comment but she remained silent, her face looking quite grim. He could wait, or so Hiroshi Saito thought. After sitting in silence for more than three hours, according to his parabellum pocketwatch – a geeky, extremely expensive item only an engineer could think of as worth buying – he broke the silence.

„Chrm." he cleared his throath „I´m Hiroshi Saito." he introduced himself. „I know." the old woman responded ignoring his sublte request for her name. He waited again, until he could not bear the smugness this old BRAT was radiating. „So what´s your name." he responded urgingly. The old woman chuckled, while popping some of her vertebras back into their propper places. „You´re quite impatient young man." she responded wiping an imaginary tear from her cheek. „That you´re so interested in an old woman is quite perverted." she stated dryly. Then the vile vixen watched Saito blushing furiously. As if he wanted something from such an old hag – even assuming that in jest – just – just how PERVERTED was THIS WOMAN! „But since you´re so adament I´ll tell you a secret." she leaned over to him. „I´m Toph Bei Fong." she spoke plainly. Saito snorted – everybody knew that Toph Bei Fong had left this world almost twenty years ago. She even had a memorial standing right in front of the metal bending academy. That wouldn´t have been erected if she still was around somewhere wouldn´t it? „Even a gearhead like me knows Toph Bei Fong is long gone to the realms." he responded „but if you don´t want to tell me your name thats fine – Toph." he rolled his eyes. She blinked and looked astonished. Did this woman really think she was the legendary warhero? Or was she indeed the legendary earthbender. The behavior at least was perfectly in tune with the numerous tales that were told about this woman. Well, you had to know beforehand she was a woman because Saito had believed that Toph Bei Fong as male until they had discussed the topic in history class. She then chuckled a humorless cuckle „Yeah – maybe that would´ve been better." she concluded mysteriously and frowned even worse. The traing rattled on an on, just stopping occasionally. Even as the sun set the old woman kept staring in nothingness – it was outright creepy. She would barely answer any questions Saito asked. While the man was quite exhausted from his hectic day the old woman was groaning and grumbling. She didn´t even eat something while he had his lunch. Despite Saito offering he something, because he himself wouldn´t have eaten anything from her stinking bundle as well! Still Saito started sleeping somehow, stretched out on the floor of the train – sleeping wagons, that would be quite the invention!


	22. Reason behind madness

**Reason behind madness**

Korra and Asami Sato were holding hands as I returned from the shrine, and they seemed to be whispering about something. Some of the still persistent onlookers were pointing fingers at them, without a doubt talking about them conducting sodomy in broad daylight. Most likely the bloody Republic Times would have another piece of hate speech ingrained on it´s front page tomorrow. I really had no clue which political color the newpaper had – because the republic times just fumed against EVERYTHING any kind of Republic establishment did. And it also fumed about anything that did not belong to the establishment – except their own newspaper, of course. Tenzin also was looking quite worried, since Me Lo would not part from his uncles urn.

The boy had simply taken it up from the altar, cradling the mug in front of his chest. As a priest approached to reming him at the necessary dignity the boy just struck with a forceful palmblast that sent the man sprawling all over the place. „Me Lo." his elder sister yipped shocked, while Toza just opened his mouth. „Me Lo, dear – please set down uncle Bumi." his mother responded, while she had tears glisting in her eyes. Her sons face was distorted in pain, as well as in a mightless rage. His free arm trembled as he shoved back his mother. „I just want to help you. Please let me help you Me Lo" Pema whimpered. „I -I swear a sun oath, a moon oath." the boy yelled, his creaking voice booming almost wondrously.

„I swear by her who judges and him who watches, by the ever changing wind and the eternal eart, by the running rivers and the burning flame – I will show you the spirit realms uncle Bumi. I´ll go where you were too aftraid to go, I´ll see their beauties for both of us ..." Pema had started sobbing, while her son looked almost like a young man. Tenzin frowned. „You´ll not travel into the spirit realms Me Lo. You´re returning to the temple with us." he responded decisively. „But I´ve sworn an oath..." the boy tried to justify his wish but it seemed the courage of a moment had faded. The spirit realms – that wasn´t a place for a child, to be precise that wasn´t a place for any living soul. I shuddered by the lone thought that somebody could willingly go there – to a place, where physics, time and space were warped and distorted into something the human mind could not understand. Even though I had never caught a glimpse of the place behind the bright column in the middle of republich city but the lone thought was terrifiying I had the strong urge to keep it that way. I even felt a bit uneasy that Sokka was living so close to this otherworldly place.

Just because I had survived an encouter with Kamis once I had no idea how it would be to enter their realms and see them in their true forms. To be able to do such a thing you most likely had to be the Avatar, a Bu Shin or a lunatic. Me Lo was staring at his father with a burning fury that reminded me at my youthful self. Tenzin stood firm and pointed at his huge airbison without saying another word. Me Los shoulders slumped as he obediently turned. Then he jolted upright again, lifted the mug, turned it and released one of the mighties airblasts I had ever withnessed. The rush of air made us stumble, little Rohan even fell on his face and started crying as fine ashes were dissipated in the wind, tumbling far away like a whitish breeze. The Sun was shining, so it was a beautiful sight. That was a lot more like the funeral Boomer had wished for. „You´ll not make uncle Bumi rot in some temple like a bloody monk!" Me Lo responded loudly. The priests were shocked, turning from white, to red, to white.

And finally the reserved Master Tenzin sunk on his knees, as silent cries escaped his had accepted that his brother was gone. His son looked at his father as if he had grown a second head, while his wife rushed to his side, cupped his head in her hands and pressed it into her bosom. „Holy shit Me Lo." Toza mumbled disbelievingly, while his sister just stared at her brother. Little Rohan however stopped crying as he noticed that nobody was looking at him. The little boy of course had not understood anything that went on in the temple and since nobody else seemed to be conscious of his presence I lowered myself in front of him. „Hello Ro Han." I tried to look as friendly as an old man with puffy eyes could look. The little fat Buddha stared at me with large, brownish eyes. He played with his dirth stained, little hands. I blew over his hands and wiped the dirt of using my sleeve. „So – now the hurt´s gone away isn´t it?" I stated in my baby voice. Yes, I´ve got a baby voice and usually women even deem this voice quite sexy – still I feel quite awkward using it. My squirt is a grown young lady and with other children – it´s strange somehow. „Who are you." he asked me while absentmindedly flexing his hands that were sporting some abrasions.

„I´m Lee." I responded, since I never had been a fan of titles I didn´t introduce myself as uncle Lee, which would make me seem even older than I already was. „Are you hungry?" I asked the little boy. I´ve never seen a happier child, Ro Han was glowing like the rejuvenated Budha. „YES!" he squeaked while raising his fists, the belly wobbled a tiny bit. „D-Do you have sweets?" his lips were glistening in desire. Of course I had no sweets on me, but I knew that it was quite common to offer sweets to Sousanoo. And since I had stolen quite a lot of sweets from the Sousanoo temple back in Shangyang I knew that the god of the winds didn´t care much about sweets, even though lore stated the opposite. „No I´ve got no sweets but good ol sousanoo certainly doesn´t mind if we eat some of his." I twinkled at the boy who was looking at me wideeyed. Since the rest of the family was still quite focussed on bawling – or in Ikkis case, arguing with priests – we made our exit undisturbed. The little kid was so exited it totally forgot the gravity that had been pushed down on him, since his uncle suddenly disappeared.

That should be what Ro Han understood, to have a complete understanding about the concept of dead would be expected too much of a four year old. And if I was correct his parents had not spared the time to tell him things properly up till now. I simply couldn´t picture Ten-Ten as somebody who told his children bitter truths willingly. We arrived in front of the side-altar, where the offerings were placed. Glazed lychee-nuts, Bananas, sweet buns and a lot of other sweets were placed in front of the altar, due to Me Los airblast they were of course toppled to some degree. Ro Hans eyes were gleaming, it was as if the little boy was staring straight into the heavens. I just picked him up, he was as heavy as Sokka had been when she was seven! The Boy at once gripped all sweets in the range of his little arms until he could hold no more. I put him down, while he already was nibbling on some read bean bun. I also had chosen a single bun. „To uncle Bumi." I spoke and ate the Bun, while making sure the boy was looking a me.

He even stopped eating his bun, as I mentioned Bumi. Ro Han looked at me. „So where is Uncle Bumi – will he come back? Mommy said he is death." he asked, an image of pure innocence. I gulped – luckily I had given a child this talk already because otherwise, I too might have been rather close to tearing up again. „No he is dead Ro Han, not death." I corrected him. „And that is the reason why uncle Bumi can not come back to us." the childs bottemlip was trembling as he tried to process the new information. „Because Uncle Bumis body didn´t put up with his injuries he passed on. And that means that he is in the spirit realms and of course looking at us – even though we can´t see him." I responded. The boy blinked. „Isn´t that were the shiny floating bubble things go?" he asked me with a wrinkled nose. He wasn´t sad anymore but interested. „The bubble things go to another place in the spirit realms but it can be quite well that they visit your uncle." I responded while feeling some restriction on my chest. I still spoke on with a gentle voice and a smile. At least I tried to smile but I had the impression I wasn´t very successful. „He´s with your grandfather now, and with some of his friends who died before him, so he´ll not be lonely." I explained. „A-And isn´t uncle Bumi hungry up there?" Ro Han asked while reminding himself that it was indignating to hold a half eaten bun in ones hands.

He started chewing furiously, while I frantically fought to stay serious. Children – they were even less fathomable than women! And that was the reason they were adorable in the first place. „No he isn´t hungy because in the spirit realms there is all the food one can imagine." I responded, as if I had a clue about the spirit realms. Ro Hans eyes were sparkling „I wanna go there!" he was enthused and drooled all over the place. That was not what I had planned. „Erm... Ro Han." I stammered as the Child raced off to his sister. „Look Ikki – Look what I have...And and when we go where uncle Bumi is there´ll be muuuch more! I wanna go there!" the child was piping up gleefully, while Ikki started crying as she patted her little brothers head. „You wanna come with me – just – just think about peanut leechy paste – giagantic heaps of if. Uncle Bumi will love it!" the kid babbled. „Oh – Ro Hand you sweet lil..." and there Ikki went again, while hugging her little brother with much vigor. The poor kid was shocked as his candies dropped from his arms and the filled buns were compressed to pancakes. „H-Hey! St-Stop squeezing the sugar foams, a-and the caramel-bonbons...noo the higisho no Sosanoo are dropping!" he protested weakly while standing stiff as a statue. How the HELL did a four year old child know the name of the sacramental five confiture buns, which were traditionally sacrificed too Sousanoo.

Damn, that was so hilarious I started grinning. Ro Han really was the strangest child I had ever encountered. Tenzin on the other hand seemed inconsolable, he was as bashed as I had been the day Bumi died. It was a heart wrenching sight, so I forcefully turned away and decided that every last onlooker should fuck off. I breathed deep, collecting chi in my lungs, they felt as if the were bursting. Then I yelled, my voice booming louder than it should be possible for a human. „You bloody little bastards get the fuck back to your homes. Listen to the officers! What kinda people can get off at crying people for hell´s sake! God´s damned perverts!" Fury simmered even higher as some people tried to push their way through the officers who had started using their bats on the roughly hundred pitiable saps that still weren´t going home.

I hurried towards them and simply delivered a punch to some assholes nose, which broke with a cracking sound. Damn – that felt good! I simply started plummeting airblasts into the people, luckily the officers stood out quite a bit. „Thirtythree!" the Avatars voice boomed. I went down into a crouch instinctively. The drills of the riot forces were still ingrained in my bones. Then water was hissing over me. The water-jet was as thick as a fist it simple blew the people from their feet, they were screaming. I looked back, Korra was moving fluid, her feets planted firm. There was no glow, but still – her jet was equaling one controlled by a whole squad of benders. The people ran away from the avatars fury, I too was dripping after she finally stopped. The commanding officer nodded. „Thank you for your assistance Avatar Korra." he bowed courtly. Yeah – no thanks for me, as always...

„Don´t sweat it boys." the Avatar responded with a dismissive wave of her hand. She again went into a bending stance and suddenly water-droplets shot out of my cloting. It felt totally strange to turn from soaking wet to dry in a mere instant. I tripped around feeling uneasy as did the cops. The vile Avatar smiled a crooked smile. I then closed up to her. „Hella creepy." I shook myself. „Bloody wets." I added. „Uh huh." she narrowed her azure eyes for a moment. „You´re such a sweetie – politely saying thank you Korra and all." she bickered to herself and returned to Asami. Tenzin left the temple, his wife was holding his arm as if he would collapse without her. Tenzin looked shitty – as did the rest of his family – most likely me included. „I guess one b down, two to go for a nice funeral." I responded. Korras head whipped around. „What?" she asked quizzical. „Just like Bumi said, a good funeral is like a good wedding, and a good wedding needs good bangs, good booze and good brawls." I smirked. The mighy avatar slapped my head. „God´s Lee." she sighed while shaking her head. Asami Sato had caught up to us again, since everybody was heading towards the two air-bisons that were hovering over the temple.

„Oogi." Tenzin whistled and the bigger animal landed in front of us. „Themudjin!" Me Lo called his bison, the boy still seemed broody. I guess somebody should have a closer eye on him in the coming weeks. He could actually do something quite stupid – like running straight through the spirit portal. „So..." I responded clasping my hands. While I prepared myself for saying goodbye in the coolest possible fashion. I was hugged sideways, dragonlily and lavender – quite the exclusive odor- flooded my nose. „HUH?" I was startled as Asami Sato hugged me. „Hey Lee." she responded, obviously content with my reaction. She broke the hug while I was still wondering about it. „You know where Chouw is?" I asked her, while barely keeping the emotion out of my voice. She smiled a short, sincere smile. „Yes, He´s at my place." the smile vanished. „Mako couldn´t bear the funeral, since he thinks he´s more at fault than everybody else." she explained. Well, he WAS! Without Mako Chow Bumi Son of Aang would most likely be alive, and the United Republic would be shaken by further acts of terror and violence in the near future. I breathed deeply. „He did the right thing. Don´t stop telling him that..." I responded and added with a sly grin „And make sure to name the child Bumi, Miss Sato." Avatar Korras eyes bulged as Asmi started looking like a strawtato. „W-Whoa...that progressed...FAST!" the Avatar responded baffled.

Her smile turned devious. „And – which holes did you dirtly little floozies use.. Come on give me details Sami." she teased the already stammering young woman while poking Asamis voluptous chest with her index finger. The sadness and gravity that had hung about everybody was slowly dissipating, I was grateful for that. Toza had listened to all of this and laughed loudly, even though his girlfriend was calling him an „insensible, boorish...man" In the meantime Me Lo had taken off on his airbison without waiting for anybody else. Tenzin helped Pema in the saddle, he didn´t scold us for behaving improper. „I – I – I asked you if you were ok - if - if it happened! A- A And it didn´t happen...yet." Asami responded stuttering, which sent the mighty avatar giggling until her backside hit the street. I just stood there dumbfounded. Why the hell would a girl ask her best friend if it was ok to fuck a guy? Women were fascinating - was this their kind of bros before hoes? „Oh gods. That was good!" she sighed while wiping her eyes. „You´re the worst Korra." Asami whimpered. „Eh..you´d like it better if I was clawing out your eyes for dating my ex, who was your ex before?" She quirked an eyebrow while Miss Sato shrunk to the size of a matchbox. Actually I wasn´t sure If I wanted to witness this conversation to progress further, it could turn really ugly in a split second. „No...and I´m... we´re really glad that you don´t." Asami responded while hugging her friend again. Damn, hopefully Sokka would never make such strange problems...

The Avatar frowned an amused frown – if I was correct – and added „You´re idiots! It´s not like you cheated on me or something. Also Mako isn´t that sexy anymore...Blegh – so much muscles!" she snickered. I still stood there as Tenzin, who had already taken a seat on the Bisons huge head, cleared his throath. „Well – as much as I hate to interrupt your little banter Korra, the buffet will be turning cold if we don´t return to airtemple island during this noon. So would you three please come up here? I guess Oogies legs start being tired." he spoke in his strange, polite manner. The Bison groaned while I wiped my nose – hopefully I wasn´t getting a cold. „Ok." I responded and propelled myself into the saddle. I´ve never ridden a flying beast before, so I was wondering what it was like. To be precise I was a tad nervous, since I never took a flight before. Flying and climbing on things were totally different, right? Then the Bison bowed it´s six legs, lifted the huge, furry tail and propelled itself into the air. It was smelling so musky that I wondered if one could manufacture perfume out of Bison sweat.

We simply rose into the air in a ninety degree angle, it was quite interesting. The animal didn´t rise very high, just about one or twohundred feet. Me Lo already was a white point close to Airtemple island. Oogie was really fast, almost as fast as a running oostrich horse. It still moved way to slow for generating such a speed. No wonder my father could outrun the firenation armies with such a beast. Today he of course would have had no chance anymore, it was astonishing how much the world had changed in the last hundred most likely it would keep on changing even faster, until I too was an old geezer who didn´t understand it anymore. I guess that is the way of the world. Korra and Asami where whispering until the Avatar squeaked and stared at her friend adorably. „th-thats´s – so sweet of you." she jipped smiling. „I´m sorry Lee, but I have to object against the last two b´s. There are children at the island." Tenzin apologized honestly and completely out of context. I quirked a brow – Tenzin should be able to party hard? I couldn´t believe that.

„You don´t need to quirk your brows." he chuckled „After all I decided to rebell against tradition and not honor the dying-words of my late brother." he stated triumphantly. I had to stiffle a laugh, my little brother was behaving quite cute, like a friggin schoolboy who decided to skip class for the first time. Even Pema was smiling and obviously biting her tongue. Ikki was already making out with her boyfriend – it seemed a least somebody was getting the three bs tonight.

Some ratpidgeons were sailing through the skies next to us. They left as my brothers home came into view. The large house still looked like thirty years ago. It was wondering if lady Katara was here, it could be possible, since the spirit portals had been opened. My spirits dropped into bottomless dephts – how should I look into her eyes and express my condolences? As I father I could imagine quite vividly that there was nothing more terrible than to bury your children. Stil I would not speak of it, since I wouldn´t ruin the mood before it was inevitable. The bison was led towards the stables, long flat buildings that had been erected close to the cliffs. Adorable bison calves were hovering around there next to their mothers.

The cuteness of these beasts, which easily surpassed a weight of a thousand stones, was creepy! I really didn´t want to know how many stones Oogie was weighing, or how much grass and leaves this giant consumed every day. I guessed Tenzins expenses for keeping his Bisons easily surpassed twentythousand yuan a year. Since I now was quite sure that no traitorous leech was able to hear us I finally asked a question that had been burning under my nails for three days. „Say Tenzin, would you know what´s up with Lin?" I asked, my voice croaking quite suspicious. The short silence that followed felt like eons. „No – I just know that she did NOT burn in her office like these liars from the press and the policeforce assume." he reassured me, it felt as if a mountain moved itself from my chest, a mountain I had not noticed before. Tenzin stared into nothingness. „Even though I am very worried. Lin is – difficult." he trailed off. Yeah – tell me something I don´t know brother, I frowned. This fight had cost Lin everything she had been proud of, her job, her status, her flat – even her precious surname! I feared that she would do some quite silly things, which was one reason more to search every nook and cranny of this gods damned city!

„And why can you be so sure? I mean, I too do not believe she went to work like nothing happened...But that´s no proof." I stated the obvious. Tenzin blinked and cleared his throath – and blinked. His wife finally took pity on her husband. „Tenzin at once went to see the dead body. It wasn´t fully scorched so he noticed that the woman had no black birthmark under her big toe – different from Lin." she explained while Tenzin turned away from me. I marvellend why Tenzin couldn´t tell me something like this himself. „I guess we should discuss this in more detail Tenzin." Korra responded in a stern voice. „Because I sure as hell will not sit idly by and wait until somebody really kills the Chief." she responded. The Chief – it felt strage to hear people referring to Lin with this title. Meanwhile the mighty Bison was decending towards the huge crib. Oogie let out a deep humming sound I could feel in my belly. Of course alkolytes were already waiting for Master Tenzin and his family to return.

My brother tossed the reigns towards a lean youn man. Ten he jumped from the bisons head and patted its big, wet nose. I got up and thought about lending Pema a hand, it was astonishing to see how agile the chubby woman slided down the bisons tail. Everybody else followed her until just me an Ro Hand were remaining. „Err.. Ro Han?" I asked the boy who remained immovable in his cushion. „Sit Down Lee – they´ll move the saddle for us." the child beamed without opening its eyes. „It´s awesome." he smiled. I sighed, shook my head and jumped out of the saddle, an airblast stopped my fall. „Oh – you´re a new airbender?" some young woman asked me surprised. „Yeah." I responded shrugging. It was convenient that a new airbending tribe had popped up after harmonic convergence. Since a majority of them were related to the former nomads air bending people with silver eyes weren´t such a rarity anymore and I could use my skills in relative safety. „This is Lee, a fried of my late brother." Tenzin intoduced me hastily. Even now he would not stand the shame to indroduce me as what I was – his brother.

Still there was the looming presence of Katara – what should I do when she was here? I had no idea. But since Tenzin did not say anything I assumed she wasn´t here. „Does your mother know Tenzin?" I asked while catching up to my brother, who was a talkaktive as a bookshelf. He breathed deeply. „Yes, she has decided to detach herself from the world." he responded with a strange hint of pride in his voice. „WHAT? You can´t let her kill herself Tenzin! Even if she´s an old woman!" I blurted. Everybody froze in their sudden movements. Tenzin halted in his steps while I looked at him with pure horror written over my face. „W-We must do something! I mean, it´s not right to commit suicide because somebody dies. Katara still has a family!" I babbled incomprehensibly as a warm brown hand slapped my forehead and interrupted the movement of my mouth. „Stop ranting Lee – Katara isn´t killing herself or something like that, she´s doing the rites of passage." Korra responded slightly annoyed. „It´s watertribe tradition that the wife of a fallen warrior – and if no wife is present his mother – weeps for him in solitude for three years." Korra explained. She added with a lower voice „Which is what Aunt Katara has decided."

I still did not get why anybody could accept such a stupid, outright idiotic tradition! Being alone had never helped anybody to deal with a loss! I frowned an agry frown. „That´s total bullcrap!" I griped. „how could you idiots let her do that? It´s certainly not helping anybody if she disappears into some abandoned hut and locks herself in like that!" I rambled. „Nobody´s gotten anything but frogsquirrel – crazy from things like that." I bitched on, while Asami nodded in consense. Tenzin shrugged. „It´s HER choice Lee, you can´t tell your elders what they have to do! And furthermore my mother never listened to the things people suggested she could or could not do." I sighed annoyed, actually he had hit home – no matter how much I disliked the fact that nobody could stop Katara from disappearing into the wilds of the south pole. You couldn´t ground an eighty year old woman in her room, could you? „Well – how about having a bite or two?" Ikki´s voice cut through the silence like a blade. „Yeah – that´s a good idea." Korra nodded and then we all w alked on towards the house. I still was not in the mood to talk about something. The wet´s were a crazy bunch, that much was true. Much to my wonder I had to notice that Avatar Aangs house still looked like thirty years ago – Tenzin hadn´t even changed the furnitures in his private wing.

Just some new items had been added, which made the rooms seem a tad less spacious than before. We entered the huge living room, in which a buffet had been prepared, sadly there was not even a hint of meat in the air. Vegetables, more vegetables and even more vegetables – the tastiest stuff were baked cheese loafs. Furthermore even the liquor cabinet was missing. Most likely Ping and the numerous friends of Bumi were celebrating his passing much more befitting than his family. Of course some alcolyte girls were tending to the buffet and we were directed towards the cushions that were spread all over the floor.

Cups and bowls were placed in front of us, but I could not find a single pair of chopsticks! Obviously nobody besides Asami Sato and me did find this strange. „Lee – you´re seeing the chopsticks?" Asami asked while scanning the room. I shook my head. Toza grinned. „It´s airnomad tradition to eat withous chopsticks – that´s a tradition I like." he responded while raising his bowl. One of the alkolyte girls filled the bowl with some kind of beansprout salad. I blinked, not even my father had eaten with his bare hands when he could have chopsticks. It seemed that my little brother was even more nomadish than the legendary„last airbender".

Sokka had told me about a monumental mover project that was conducted outside of republic city. Some of her watertribe girls were working on the set, which was rumored to consist out of close to twothousand people. Sokka actually had tried to be casted as princess Azula because her ladyfriends wanted it – of course she had been rejected due to quite obvious reasons. Still the squirt was fascinated about movers, sadly she had no interest in the chemical processes that led to the discoloration of the cellulose-vinegar based film stripes but the usually trivial contents of said movers. I myself also could only give an educated guess about it since varrik industries protected their knowlegde quite well. Since film became black I would tend towards either, a carbon producing reaction – which seems quite improbable – or something related towards the formation of copper or silver compounds from some kind of salt. That would explain why these guys needed alkaline fluids and were so strict about light exclusion when they processed the films. But Sokka of course was babbling about the mover being the „book of the future" - hilarious! As if something could replace books!

While I was musing, since the other people were talking about trivial things, somebody had filled my bowl with some kind of egg rice that contained more steamed vegetables than rice. It nevertheless tasted quite good, even though the cook definitely had missed out on spices. I drank some lychee juice, the slighlty sour juice definitely was not something Bumi would´ve called a drink, but it couldn´t be helped. The avatar obviously was rather busy teasing her friend, who whimpered like a schoolgirl at her rather inappropriate questions about her doings with inspector Chouw. Me Lo disappeared quite fast after eating his share. At least he excused himself, but his mother still looked worried. The little Ro Han on the other hand was in heaven, he ate and ate until he was so full he couldn´t even burp properly anymore. Then he simply leaned back in his orange cushion and started sleeping. It was much later, after me explaining the principle of nuclear fission, blabbering about the new satomobile XS turbo, as well as the saddening absence of a new polar bear marauder modell as well as even more technobabbling from Asamis side, that Tenzin finally rose to hold a speech. My brother looked rather imposing in his flowing robes, he managed to look serene despite having puffy eyes and a slightly unkempt beard.

The alkolytes at once paid attention, not that they would have participated or interrupted our conversation before. „Chrm... dear family, dear friends." he spoke in his slow, sophisticated way. He fidgeted with his hands and tugged on his beard as he continued. „We have been in a daze of sadness, disbelief and maybe even anger. The last week was a terrifying week for the citizens of the United Republic and especially for the people in this room." he paused, dammit Tenzin now my throath was tightening up again! „We have lost two people very dear to our hearts. My childhood friend Lin Bei Fong and my elder brother Bumi." my mouth twitched as I wanted to add some quite colorful remarks about Ten-Ten and Lin – childhoodfriends...

„But we can not forget that a terroristic organization has threathened the very place we live in, the ideal that those dear people devoted their lives to! The United Republic of four nations, a place where we do not dwell on the past but try to walk new paths humanity hasn´t trodden before. To see it threatened by insane humans who don´t value life itself reminds us that one sometimes has to forget his ideals to save them. I will not let this city go to shambles, not as a councilman and not as an air nomad." he paused again, my brother had become quite the politician. „Of course you all can make your own choices, dear friends. Still I would be content to know you at my side, since the squirreltoad is an outright frightening organization a politician can not face without substancial support from the police, the industry and other forces of order." he closed his eyes.

„Still these all are topics for another day, since today we celebrate the passing of Bumi – and of Lin." there was a strange tone in his voice that made my hair stand up. Was Tenzin truly believing that Lin was dead by now? Even if he knew that she hadn´t died in the murderous attempt? „I know that you alcolytes partake greatly in the joys and sufferings of my family, but please understand that on such a day we all would like to contemplate about life and death in the close circle of family." he stated and nodded towards his servants. The orange robed people bowed formally and humbly disappeared out of the large room without uttering as much as a word.

Brr – that wasn´t nomadly at all, I felt l as if I was in a bloody temple right now. My brother seated himself, looking outright exhausted. „Well – we have some serious things to discuss." he sighed. „Ikki – please spent the afternoon as you wish. Junior Gyatso has already prepared two cards for the newest Noatak mover, in the case you´d like to attend it." he simply complimented his daughter out of the room. Much more disturbing was that Ikki did not even try to rebel against her father. She simply nodded, got up and waved her hand. Toza followed her as if he was in some trance. The poor boy just was totally disturbed at Tenzins actions. I too was – I hadn´t thought that Tenzin was such a levelheaded person if things got ugly. I myself also wouldn´t have wanted a fourteen year old teenager listen to serious business like this. Much to my wonder Pema also rose. „I´m sorry but before I ´m Tenzins wife I´m the mother of my children. And as such it is my duty to be there when they need me." she did not wait for any responses, not that I wouldn´t have understood her angle. Asami Sato frowned – she had no children after all. „So, can we begin?" Tenzin asked in the rather small round. „Yes, I will fill Mako in later, he of course is in on this." Asami reassured the airbender. Korra too turned serious and set down her cup of tea.

„Chrm...it may be astonishing for the most of you but I never was really... surprised about what happened." Tenzin stated silently. „WHAT!" I blurted, how could he say something like that so casually! „Y-You KNEW that some Dai-Li Fucktartds would go on a rampage and didn´t do a fucking thing? Just what kinda fucked up council are ya!" I rambled, while my patience again was wearing thin. I wasn´t used to political intrigues, schemes and the likes – I just have been a hard working, honest man for the majority of my life. And this feeling of utter helplessnes in such a situation was really infuriating. I balled my fists as I tried to calm myself. My brother seemed unfazed – obviously he had expected something like my outrage since he continued dryly. „Knowing about something and knowing about how and when to prevent it are two different things Lee. Please just listen, I´m a professional politician for close to fifteen years right now – let me do my job." there was an iron in Tenzin voice I never felt before. I breathed deeply and nodded.

„When prince Wu declined the crown, which in his situation was the thing anyone with commonsense would´ve done, we all knew that there was a storm brewing in the underground of the earthern nations. That is why the united forces have been prepared for war since then. We knew that the Dai-Li were operating in the shadows and that certain Lords were covering and supporting them. There is a strong monarchistic cult ingrained in the people, which is nothing a few years of unrest, or education, can erase. The most important figures in this context are the member of the Ling household, which have a wide influence on the nobility. Not at least because they can trace back their lineage to the first jade emperor an could produce an heir to the jade throne." he responded in Korras direction. The Avatar licked her lips at that. „They also are very whealthy since they could size most of their old properties after Kuvira´s imprisonment." he responded. „The most prominent supporter of Dai Li is one of the younger Lords, Kuang Ling." Asami Sato added. „I tried to do some business with im, since his lands on the plains of Chu Da were devastated quite badly in the course of the reconquest of the earth nations and I felt the obligation to help his people get back on their feet." she looked disgusted.

„I had to knee him in his private parts during the first evening I spent as his guest. He is a savage, exploiting bastard. His peasants are whipped regularly, I couldn´t see a single servant who had no whip-marks on his back. Furthermore the man has quite the short temper and is a traditionalist through and through. After a week I had to return home since the only offer I could get from him was becoming his seventh wife." she reported in an icy voice that made Korra utter a bunch of curses under her breath. Yep – that sounded precisely like a man who would flock the whole upper class of the earth kingdoms behind him! How my people could be so unbelievably dense and obedient was something I couldn´t grasp. „And what did you DO?" I asked Tenzin. He cleared his throath. „The United Republic didn´t do anything besides stopping trade deals with the Ling clan. I on the other hand used the fact that nobody is suspicious of bald headed, vegetarian monks." his eyes were sparkling in merryment. „Some of my trusting alcolytes had assigned themselves to the task of finding airbenders in the plains of Chu da. And since they were doing that they couldn´t help but notice things. Curiosity is crucial for enlightenment and such." I almost started laughing, I never would have thought that Ten-Ten would deploy spies.

„They found out a couple of abandoned iron mines had resumed their production in secrecy. Also heavily guarded strorage houses had been erected close to the Ling´s strongholds. Also the prices for pure sulfur and bird-excrements rose significantly in the region. We finally could observe a lot of veteran soldiers flocking in the the plains, which led to quite the conflicts with the populace." he explained. Yes, it seemed that the plains of Chu-Da were indeed breeding a revolution. „And about the Dai Li?" Korra asked. She was worried about the important part. You could not fight an enemy that was invisible. Tenzin sighed and scratched his beard. „Despite the fact that some of them openly patrol the gardens of Kuang Lings palace I guess nothing is known, right Tenzin?" Asami asked the older man. He nodded gravely. „Indeed we couldn´t find out much more. We just know that the number of Dai Li drastically decreased under Kuvira´s rule. They had to hide, their funds and assets were frozen and a bunch of them executed." he retold common knowledge. „And what is with the officials in Rep City, the earthnation Councilman?" I asked Tenzin. He nodded.

„The officials – well I also sapped on sources from the Republic City secret police. There are some earth nation moles identified in our administration that could prove a problem if war broke out. But unless this happens we should not have to concern ourselves with them. Of course we can be wrong about that but since the transfer of money is impossible due to currency issues and various control mechanisms we can be sure there is no open support for the Ling´s. And what concerns Bao Bao He – I would vouch for him myself. He is a loyal man who takes his obligations to the Republic very seriously. Furthermore he isn´t stemming from nobility, which means it´s of vital interest to him that the Ling´s don´t size power in the earthern nations. He most likely would be executed, along with a large number of leading officials, if the monarchists were to set up a new administration and executive." he explained. Korra pinched her nose.

„That doesn´t look like we simply can waltz in there and take in some people. Even though I´m the avatar - I´m no army." she smiled sadly. „Of course not. That is the reason why I have been exchanging letters with the defense minister of the fire nation for more than a year. Lin of course also was heavily involved in the whole matter." Tenzin explained. My eyes bulged, as did the ones of Asami and Korra. These two had known what danger was looming over the city and they had kept it to themselves as if – as if nobody else could´ve helped them shouldering it? I frowned. Korra sighed in defeat. She didn´t argue back. Obviously she knew that Tenzin had had quite profound reasons to not tell her about this. Well, my brother at least had had a wife to share these stories with I guessed. On the other hand – I had no idea what my brother told Pema, if he told her anything at all.

„To be frank Tenzin, I´ve no clue what I can do, or what anyone besides Korra could do against this, besides spending money for propaganda campaigns and joining the assault of the United forces when the time comes." I stated gloomy. The only thing I COULD do was searching for Lin, which didn´t have much to do with operation squirreltoad. „What worries me is the fact that Lin was killed, hence we have no idea who will turn the new Chief of police. And this could be a crucial issue, since you know just how powerful the force is. Especially since we don´t have any kind of military here." Asami stated the obvious. For a moment Tenzin seemed troubled. „Yes – that is worrying me too. It was not wholly unexpected however." he cleared his throath.

„Lin Bei Fong became highly respected by the media over her years as Chief, but – she never was really suited for the job." he responded with a sad smile. I just nodded in consent while Korra looked baffled. „She was too just, and too socially awkward for it. Her own Cops were doubting her, or at least a large group of them was and she wasn´t able to inspire them - nor was she able to make them cower in fear like her mother did. Lin imprisoned or fired more cops in two years than her mother did in a decade. She always stuck to the book if it was about corruption or excessive violence towards prisoners, which in the long run was wrong." Tenzin sighed in defeat. „I ´d told her as she took up the badge that it was a silly idea, but stubborn as all Bei Fongs are she insisted that she had to do it." he shook his head. „Did she at least suggest somebody to follow in her footsteps?" I asked while my heart was skipping a beat, that actually was our last ray of hope in this case.

„Because if Saikhan gets into her chair we can start handing out badges to criminals and fire nation nationalists Tenzin." I responded while a hint of anger crept into my voice. This gods damned prick still was not in jail, it was highly irksome! Tenzin rose. „Indeed. I´m going to fetch some papers." he responded. He had been quite prepared for this day and I wondered if he even had planned his collapse in the temple. Tenzin had become a schemer without anybody noticing it, he was as changed as little Linny! Indeed Tenzin just went to a small cupboard, opened it´s upper drawer and too out a paper he then planted under my nose. It was covered with neat, calligraphic letters. This was Lin´s writing. I started reading.

Highly respected Council of the Four nations,

if this paper is presented to you by Tenzin, Son of Aang or his legitimate successor and attorney I am no longer able to fullfill my duties as the Chief of Police. I apologize for not being able to fullfill my position until proper retirement. Most likely an attempt on my life will have succeded and I have to trust this Council to deliver justice in my case. However it is of far greater importance to find a proper sucessor for my position than to investigate who orchestrated my murder. Since I am not aware of personal grievances that could lead to somebody resulting to violence my death has to be related towards my function of Chief of police. Like my mother I would like to suggest persons which I deem worthy of taking over my position as head of police. I would like to recommend the following officers due to their exemplary dedication towards the United Republic, as well as their leading expertise that may surpass my own;

I sign in full possesion of sanity, Sixth of the ape, 65 after the Peace of Miyako

Lin Bei Fong

I blinked „Why the heck aren´t any names written there?" I asked astonished. Not even Lin could be obnoxious or overworked enough to forget the most important part of a document! Tenzin chuckled. „Come on Ten-Ten don´t fucking chuckle at me!" his smile vanished at the sound of his hated nickname. „Not even Lin would be overworked enough to forget the most important Kanjis of this meticulously written letter!" I fumed. „Have you eradicated them or what?" I waved the paper around carelessly until I noticed that this would not be good for the waxen seal of the Bei Fong Household that had been attached at it´s bottom left corner. „Lin didn´t write this letter Lee – I did. It seem´s my calligraphy lessons ARE paying off." my little brother admitted silently. „T-Tenzin? S-Since when are you a – a criminal mastermind?" Korra blurted shocked, I was too stunned to utter a word. „It´s important that a civilized man has a large variety of skills. Usually I tend to replicate historic scrolls as a hobby, which you´ve always deemed a pointless quirk, dear Korra." he replied smugly. Suddenly my brother seemed much more imposing than ever. He literally seemed taller than me for the first time in my life. Asami scratched her nose. „What´re you making a fuzz about – Tenzin is a politican." she just shrugged as if it were perfectly normal for politicians to be skilled in forging documents. Korra just shook her had in daze. „Lee- you´re looking as if you had eaten an unripe plumato." Asami commented my facial expression.

„Y-Yeah. That STILL doesn´t explain why there are no names written!" I triumphed, trying to save my dignity. Tenzin sighed. „Elder brother Lee, please behave your age." he grumbled not noticing what he actually said. There was an utter silence in which Tenzin flushed a bright red. I wasn´t saying a word. „ Tenzin. This isn´t the time for jokes or some of you philosophic remarks - Shall we name the officers to put there?" Korra responded chiding her mentor. Then she stared at me since I wasn´t making any efforts to deny the truth of these words. Ten Ten had brought this over himself and even if I was not particularly thrilled about being his halfbrother – since it simply was a fact – I wouldn´t lie. „And since when are you calling people brother? You´ve only ever done this to Bumi..." Korra quirked her left eyebrow, she seemed to have caught up finally. „Well – Avatar Aang had four children, which is a story we can or can not discuss once we´re finished with the business at hand." I responded descisive, because Ten-Ten was quite out of it. Korra still stared at me. „Did you run away from home as a teenager? Why aren´t there any pictures of you here?" she asked, obviously more interested in my background than in the important question. „As Lee said, we´re talking about this later." Tenzin responded looking sickly pale. I wasn´t getting what his problem was – he wasn´t my father and the man who was had left the world long ago.

Furthermore I highly doubted that anybody in this room wanted to dirty Avatar Aangs name. „And indeed I wasn´t highstrung enough to simply add some names here, even though the person whose input I would´ve needed most ist not present right now." he responded. I nodded, Mako Chouw indeed could have mentioned some people. I was staring in front of me as I tried to figure out what we could do right now. Of course there was Ping, who definitely had something to back up his claim. He was loyal, well liked and surprisingly organized. Also he was the Captain of the individual Crimes division, which was the division Lin had served in before becoming Chief. And Ping most likely had served some time in the riot squads, as almost every earthbending member of the police force on top of that. „What´s about Ping Hungshu?" I asked Tenzin. „I vouch for the pal." I stated. Tenzins brows furrowed, „wasn´t that the man Bumi went partying with quite regularly? I mean – that´s not what a Chief of police is supposed to do." He whimpered. „He is a good man. He´s there when he´s needed and he definitely is loyal to our course." Asami added. With a small voice she added „he was with us when we...chrm...did the thing." she stared at her hand ashamed. Korra patted her friends back.

„How old is this guy? I think Lin would´ve nominated somebody who was younger than her. So is he in his thirties?`" the Avatar asked. I chuckled. „He certainly would like that, but actually Ping is very close to my age. We´ve started in the forces together, which is quite some years down the yellow river." I responded truthfully. „But why don´t we take Mr. Chouw himself? He´s got the achievements, he´s loyal and quite young." I responded until I mesmerized that Mako Chouw was TOO young for being a Chief. „Yes Lee, we definitly should run Me Lo for councilman." Tenzin remarked sarcastically. I shrugged. „Hell Tenzin, I don´t even have an elementary school certificate so what the hell should I know about politics!"

Tenzin was a politician, so he simply should make a choice! „Mako would take up the position if it was offered to him – he might even be ready for it - but nobody will believe that." Asami responded. „He´s just twentysix." she shook her head. „If this Mr. Hungshu is loyal than we should take him. Or..." she was scratching her chin. „Could you squeeze something else in there Tenzin?" the older man looked at Miss Sato with renewed interest. „What are you suggesting?" he asked her. „Well... how about Mr. Hungshu is chosen under a condition – for example Mako taking over his current position." she responded.

„Since the individual crime division handles everything that is not related to gang-violence the position of it´s Captain is really important for us." she explained. I hadn´t thought about that, luckily I wasn´t running a company like Miss Sato. Tenzin nodded. „That is quite the relief because I would´ve liked to see Mako in this position. It is suitable and indeed of high strategic interest." he explained. „The Ling Household is a way too mighty opponent for crushing it head on. And if Lee vouches for somebody – that says a lot." he nodded. Indeed I wasn´t somebody who vouched lightly. For example I definitely would not vouch for the integrity of Avatar Korra, Miss Sato or Tenzin! Thats not so because I didn´t think they were good people. The reason was that I grew up in Shangyang, where vouching literally meant putting your and your families lives on the line for a mans reputation! „ I personally would like to suggest Captain Lung, who is quite popular in the Riot forces, which are also a quite important part of the forces, since they basically are our military." he responded. „But if I were Lee I would not vouch." he responded with a slight smile. „So we´re taking Mr. Hungshu." he clapped his hands.

„I´ll prepare the scroll lateron, because it is quite time consuming to forge something like that. I´m no professional!" he smiled an almost boyish smile. There was a long silence. „Thank you Asami, you´ve given quite the inspirational contributions." Tenzin thanked the young woman. „Well, there is another topic everybody has avoided up till now." I responded. I was feeling quite unwell but searching Lin was almost as important as setting up these political shenangians! Also we should discuss if somebody on this table had connections to mercenaries, gangers or some people who would kill for nothing besides gold. „At first there is the question of somebody had connections to the golden Shirshus or something the likes." I asked. Asami looked quite frustrated. „No – of course not! Why does eveybody think I´ve hired armies? Really, I´m just a sickeningly rich merchant!" she tried to explain to us. I smiled a crooked smile. „What? It´s the truth!" she insisted. „You may not have connections to the golden shirshus and the terras. But some of your subordinates definitely have." I responded. She seemed somehow taken abhack.

„Are you talking about the ruckus Harada caused in Lau An?" she asked me baffled. I smiled, so that bloody bastard finally HAD overdone it!My day had turned a lot more bearable now. „For example." I responded. „Of course such people are needed where such large sums flow Miss Sato. I mean, every nation employs people like these, even if they are just kept in the basement for the – what IF case." I eyed Tenzin. My brother sighed in defeat. „I hoped I never would have to resort to such methods." I felt quite bad for pressuring him into something so dishonorable. „But the Council of course has contacts, still I alone can´t do anything – that is the nature of the Contracts we made with the village of the dawn." he responded yipped loudly. „The village of the dawn? Like in the most proficient assasins of the watertribes?!" I was baffled, there were horrid tales told about the village of the dawn. Of men who killed their own firstborns for the bloodgod. Of assasins that killed without fail, for their targets weight in silver. It was told that you had to contact them on a new moon, that they were devils without a soul. Bloodbenders and warriors that could easily take on a tenfold number of opponents. „B-But they´re DEMONS Tenzin!" Korra was outraged and plainly shocked.

Every one of her words hit the core of the Councilmans heart. „I don´t like the thought of doing it Korra! Who was saying that doing nothing can be as big a crime a doing something wicked!" He yelled at her, obviously offended. „Please, everybody calm down!" Asami Sato roase from her seat groaning like an old woman. Obviously she wasn´t used to sitting in the lotus position. „We don´t have done anything yet. So there is nobody to blame for anything." she responded. „So, Korra – you are obviously against relying on this village of the dawn." she responded. „Of course – every decent human being is!" the Avatar ranted. „The village of the dawn is like the charred men Asami!" she rambled. „Just that it´s real!" Korra insisted. I just shrugged. „the charred man is a symbol of fear. Of course there are men that are even scarier, but that doesn´t change the fact that I don´t have an alternative to assasinating the heads of the Ling Household." I admitted. „If that´s what you plan to do Tenzin...I – really just want to stick my head between my legs an stay the hell outta this." I admitted, while the sheer dimension of the conflict that killed Bumi almost made my head explode. Tenzin looked furious.

„We can´t stay out of this! Maybe you can Lee, but I can not. I will not see this world in a second dark age!" he responded descisive. Korra looked at Tenzin, she was cradling her head in her hands. „I don´t condemn you Tenzin. I – I don´t know what we should do anymore. I´m aftraid to stare in this hell." the Avatar croaked, she seemde dangerously close to crying. „I just wanted to be a girl named Korra – gods I never wanted to start a war – or assasinate people. But if I can prevent a war, I´ll do anything to prevent it." she responded. It hurt me to see such a young woman so desperate. „So that´d be the price to pay? Would it really stop after killing Kuang Ling and his elders." Asami gulped. „That´s what we have to find out. We don´t need Assasins, we need spies Tenzin – I´ll set out large sums for information. Information is the weapon of a merchant." Asami responded. „I´ll talk with people to find out what stands behind this Colonel Chun." she still had fear in her eyes as she spoke this mans name.

„Before we don´t know who this man is – and who helped him be what he is we can´t start killing people!" he voice was brimming with determination. Tenzin nodded. „Of course we can´t. And there are already people working on this. I´ve had meetings with the Firelord and her security advisors. The earthern kingdoms are a ticking timebomb we never should´ve mingled with." he sighed and added some colorful curses I had not deemed Tenzin capable of. He still blushed afterwards. „So, what can we do to help you Tenzin?" I asked my brother, because I´ve always been a fan of the doctrine, know as much as you need to know, but no tad more! My brother laughed a sarcastic laugh.

„Nothing. The only thing Korra can do is standing up against monarchy – in public." he responded. Korra gulped. „Isn´t that total bullshit Tenzin? How shall I, as a Chieftains daughter, stand up against monarchy?" she asked quirking an eyebrow. Well, that was indeed a difficult thing. „You´re the Avatar, that´s an advantage in this case." Asami responded. „You´ll never inherit your fathers position. From a political point of view it´s as if you hadn´t any parents." she smiled. „Especially the conservative earth nation people will believe that." she explained. Korra still seemed not comfortable with making propaganda. To be truthful – the people weren´t overly fond of Avatar Korra since she had made quite the mistakes. And the people weren´t very forgiving. „Well – I for my part will search for Lin until somebody finds her." I responded. If anybody was saying a word against it I simply would ignore it. „That´s goo Lee." Tenzin responded, he seemed rather torn. We sat there – was everything said? My head was almost spinning from all the new informations.

Authors note:

So my dear readers, you didn´t thing I would NOT give reasons for team squirreltoad doing what it did, didn´t you? Well now you have it... From now on our humble Airbending teacher will be in EPIC TENZIN MODE for quite a bit, since he has to be a real politician after all. The pal practically was raised for his job since infancy xD. So, reviews please.


	23. He who searches in the night

**He who searches in the night**

The nights were unpleasantly cold this year, even though it still was far away from being winter. An ill omen, the people were already whispering of a curse from the white lady. Of course this was utter bullshit and I didn´t even waste my precious brains on something so trivial and boorish! I still had not found Lin, even though I´ve already spent twentyone evenings in the streets of Republic City. Of course I was no idiot, so I had bought torn and rugged robes from a hobo. They reminded me on my rather miserable childhood, something I did not particularly like. Also I had obtained a rusty, makeshift dagger which I hid beyond said robes. I didn´t want to stick out as the rich guy to begin with, because that definitely led to problems with the local thugs. Me inquiring all across the dragonflats still had been suspicious enough. Much to my surprise I had found out that Chief Bei Fong had been drinking in some quite suspicious looking black bars the night before her murder, which I of course could not enter in my current garb.

Since I was shivering quite badly I dug my clam fingers deeper in the dirt staring sleeves and walked on in the typical, slouching and deliberately slow manner of an expierienced street dweller who had given up on success many years ago. The streets were quite busy, even if a cold, damp fog was moving through the dragonflats. Most people were quite young, since the old didn´t move out into the night if they could avoid it. Even my bones noticed the ugly wheater and I was nothing short of being in my thirties if we ignored a couple of wrinkles and some grey hairs in my beard. The teenagers of course did not even think about staying indoors. Even though they were shivering nothing seemed more fun than hanging out on street corners while sporting cord wrapped Soju-bottles to fight the cold. „Eh... look at that dog! Isn´t that your dad Chan?" some boy yelled while throwing a pebble in my direction. It harmlessly bounced off the street in front of my feet. The crowd of young people was laughing, except one of the boys. The blurting kid was one of the worst lot – a rich, good for nothing snob who thought it a great idea to play the tough ass ganger! He was dressed expensively, even wearing an ornamented battle-axe in his sash. The fact that he could get imprisoned for ten years if he got caught wasn´t fazing him at all.

I just hurried onwards – I was not in the mood to get clobbered to infirmary, or putting a dagger in somebodies innards. „Ha.. Look that ol fart is pissing his pants. Ehy you...Asshole!" he yelled demanding. „Aren´t you the creep that´s asking bout that Bei Fong Bitch?" He sneered. People started whispering at once. Damn – that wasn´t going as planned. I still walked on since I had no intention of creating trouble – Sokka would´ve been very displeased with my honorless behavior. I still remembered a time where such humiliations were quite ususal. „Ya know – that bitch was so roaring drunk she didn´t even notice some kids stealing her badge." the kid laughed while waving a golden badge around. This bloody little prick! I halted. „So ya´re buying some kinda copper badge? Damn waste o money for someone not workin fer some rich fart." I responded in the slurred slang of the poor. After all I had already answered some, physically enhanced, questions from some triad enforcers. I still was sporting a black eye, a split lip as well as a slightly crooked, bluish nose from last week.

Luckily Sokka had not seen my pitiable yelping – but I had to play a role, since I would a lways obey the first law of shangyang if it was possible. I tapped towards the kids. „Ugh..Tarro – why are you calling this lousy goat fucker over here." one girl whined while playing with the rich boys chest. The kid took a deep gulp of Soju while staggering around quite a lot. The boy, who was sporting some akne scars, as well as reddish eyes was quite big for his age. He waved the batch in front of my nose – it indeed was Lin´s. „So, whaddaya wan from a poor sap young Master?" I asked him humbly, while staring at my feet. I never was someone whose eyes were humble in the first place. This had earned me a lot of trouble in my youth, my dear readers. „Ah – see this thing knows it´s place." he sneered. „You could cut something off from that Chang." he shoved one of his loons away, the streetkid was glinting at the rich boy with barely suppressed fury. „At first I wanna know why you ol fuckwad are nosing about that bitch Bei Fong." he patted his battle axe. „Y´know as a man of Rep I need ta have ta know what ma hoods doin." the kid blurted. His hood – hmh – I guessed he would not dare to say this to some terra aspirants face. But since I was just a beat up looking poor sap he of course was radiating bravado. „Cause I get money fer it? Some rich fancy pants guy seems ta believe in some conspiracy crap." I shrugged. „Was one o this journalist fuckwads." I spit on the ground. The kid gripped my collar with both hands and leaned close. „Don´t cha dare ta fuck with me motherfucker." He sneered. I just snorted annoyed. „Not again. First tha terras, now ya – what´s so intersting bout some fuckwads searchin fer a dead woman?" I whined quite outhentic. Of course it was of high importance for republics underbelly to find out if Lin was alive or not.

Ping had been appointed Chief on trial after all, and this was bad news since suddendly a lot of people were doing their job again. And this was due to the simple fact that Ping had revived the old ways as he stated. He had talked with corrupt cops and ensured them that he wouldn´t meddle in their businesses as long as they kept order and didn´t turn blind eyes on real crimes – like slave trade, murder or rape. The boy shoved me away, I tumbled backwards like an old hobo would. He laughed. „Eh Chang – clobber the asshole." he blurted and held out his battleaxe towards his underling who took it in his hands dumbfounded. The people which had been passing by with quite suspicious glances before now were hurrying back into the protective staircases of their houses. Without a doubt somebody would call the local gang about this – some drunken rich kid could not start messing up people in the streets like that.

The girls were giggling a bit too shrill and his pals looked as if the had eaten some unripe plumatos. Still nobody dared to intefere with the drugged maniac. Yeah – this lil fucker was higher than heaven! „Whoa...I´m outta here sirs, no need to beat me!" I yelled while running off. But this little twerp was not willing to let it go. „You fucked whoreson can´t do anything cantcha!" he yelled enraged and shoved one of his girls away. He then gripped the battleaxe, tore it out of Changs hands and started charging at me. Now I started running for real as my world turned crystal clear. I would not mess with a drugged, axe wielding madman! It was suprising hof fast the staggering kid was. People had started screaming while I felt somehow surreal. I ran until my opponent should have gotten used to me fleeing, I even zigzagged around some corners until I decided to blast the kid out of his shoes – he could get ideas like throwing his axe!

And that could end quite ugly if I was unlucky. My feet loudly collided with the cobblestones as I skitted to halt quite suddenly and struck with a spinning motion. Air hissed in an arclike shape and I noticed that nobody was behind me anymore. There was just an old man who spit over his left shoulder and made a triangle to fend off the evil. I felt quite sheepish, but better safe then sorry! Cold sweat as well as water were dampening me and sucked the warmth out of my bones. I was quite sure that I would have a cold tomorrow, not even a hot bath would prevent that. Furthermore I did not have the money for visiting a bathhouse and using a tin tub wasn´t very comfortable, especially if you had to carry up the water bucket by bucket before heating it. Since I tried to minimize the damage I continued to jog homewards, even if people looked at me as if I was walking on my hands. I really had to find Lin sometime soon because I could feel that my body would not take much more of these intense nightly strolls.I had a quite demanding job to do during daylight. Lao was worrying about me and vividly told me about the drastic effect the consumption of illegal narcotics had on ones body, while my daughter was telling me again and again that I should go to Lin´s grave and accept she was gone. Like hell I would! I had broken the promise I gave a dying man once, I wouldn´t break it twice!

Still I felt torn, the possiblity that Lin was gone grew by day, also she could simply have left the city in the meantime. That would have been the smart thing to do in her shoes and if I had been Lin Bei Fong I would have run off to Miyako decades ago! Miyako, the city of steam engines and war machines had turned to the cultural and artistic center of the world over the last thrity years. After all there never had been a patron of the liberal arts like firelord Zuko! I was running in circles, Buffalo Flats, dragon Flats, harbor district – Lin was nowhere to be found! Since the fleshmarket was a wet´s only place I didn´t need to look there because not even Lin would be insane enough to go there. And if she had gone there was nothing I could do anymore. There were unshed tears simmering behind my eyes as if felt the rage of the helpless. „Fuck." I hissed and walked on. I just walked and walked until my fury was gone. I was cold to the core but I still was not finished since there was one place where I had not dared to look up till now. The spirit forest! Even the lone thought of this place made my skin crawl but I could not avoid it forever. Tomorrow I would definitely go there because in the dark I of course would not be able to find anything in this mysterious place. So I dragged myself on, I was quite startled as I arrived in front of a shabby looking building I remembered from my non voluntary parties with Bumi. It was the place where we had started, the Elderberry, which actually was Lau Mi´s tattoo studio. There still was light burning. I hadn´t seen the eccentric artist since the second day after Bumis death. She had thrown a tattoo machine at me, and some vases. The woman obviously had been head over heels for Bumi and my goofy idiot of a brother hadn´t even realized it.

I shook my head and stared at the large window. Since the studio was located in a somewhat respectable neighborhood close to the republic city academy of sciences the rugged charme of the building seemed quite out of place. I was staring at the large window which enabled one to look inside the studio that sported the usual chaos typical for true artisans. How one could live in such a mess was beyond my comprehension, but was startled me the most was the fact that the gas lamps still were burning. A wooden ladder led upwards into a second floor where Lau Mi´s living area was located. Why she needed a more than twelve feet tall working place also was unexplainable. Still she insisted she needed the space! The artisan herself was not to be seen, which most likely was due to the long yellow and red curtains that restrained my field of view. Even though my bare toes felt as if they were turning into icicles I wasn´t going home. I had no idea if I should go in there and finish things with the woman. Also it was so gods damned cold that even being yelled at in the warmth seemed like an excellent alternative to walking home for another few hours. I sniffed since my nose was running furiously.

My hand touched the cold brass knob and exertetd a soft pressure. I was startled as the door actually opened and some kind of mobile rung in a high pitched tone. !Y-Yes? Who´s there?" I heard Lau Mis voice, I could hear a hint of fear in it. I just walked in, the warmth almost mady me dizzy. Just how much coal did this woman shovel in her innocent looking oven? Still I had no idea what I should say, which meant I stayed silent. „Who´s there – I – I swear I´ll yell half the town to rubble if you´re not getting out! I – I´m armed and dangerous!" Lau me yelled from the upper floor. As she approached the wooden railing I gasped. The woman was naked, except for her head on which a huge looking stocking cap was resting, the plushy white ponpon dangling against her breasts. She also was holding a small cast iron shovel in her hands. „Erm...Why´re you wearing that hat?" I asked astonished and in a rather small sounding voice. „Who are you... don´t come any closer!" she rose her shovel even though she was standing quite the distance away from me. „Calm down. I´ll leave if you want. I – just..." well what did I just want to do? Was I going to apologize for Bumis death? That was ridiculous, also I didn´t know what it felt like to loose your loved one because some people burned his face off. To not be invited to his funeral also was quite the bonus. I just hung my head. „Lee?" the woman looked quite startled. „Yes." I responded while I was staring at the tattoing chair quite intensely. I felt like the most retarded retard in all of Republic city right now. What the hell was I doing to me and to this woman?

She put down the shovel and kicked some boxes away with her bare foot, obviously being naked was something perfectly natural for her. Lau Mi was a walking rainbow – there barely could be seen more than a span of non colored skin on her upper body, her legs, and butt also were covered with strange, psychedelic looking things that most likely were spirits. I politely turned my gaze away as she searched something to dress. Finally she had found a red dressing gown that covered her more private parts almost properly. „So what´re you - oh spirits, you´re looking terrible." she exclaimed and hurried down the ladder with a speed that should be humanly impossible. Terrible? Well I didn´t feel crispy but terrible was quite the overstatement in my opinion. „Ugh.." she uttered a noise of rejection. „You´re stinking worse than my sisters coonie!" she stared at my robes with pity in her eyes.

„I thought you´ve got a daughter Lee – live has to go on." the woman responded witth tears in her eyes. I gulped hard. „Crrm... that´s just a disguíse, I´m searching for Lin." I responded with a desperate sigh. She stopped in her tracks. Grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the chair where I sunk down feeling sleepy and exhausted. „You´re quite beat up, you´ve dark rings under your eyes...Lee – Chief Bei Fong is dead..." she was gulping dryly, I was treated like a stubborn child. I stared into nothingness. Her words were like needles, I didn´t want to have lost the last friend of my youth, too. „Tenzin said somebody else was burnt in her office." I responded like a child that clung to a strand of hair. „Are you sure he said that? Are you sure you´ve even spoken with Tenzin?" she asked me sceptical. Well I did look like a homeless man who had lost his reason, I´ve spent a month of hard work to look like that. „Yes, I did." I responded and gulped. My feet were tingling painfully as the warmth of life returned into them. I sniffed since my nose still was running like crazy. Lau Mi was leaning close and sniffed. „You´re not drunk.." she responded surprised. I chuckled a humorless chuckle. „Booze didn´t help anybody. I´m not lying Lau Mi – Tenzin said that the woman found dead in Chief Bei Fongs office wasn´t Lin. Of course that doesn´t mean she has to be alive." I responded while knacking my knuckles.

„But I´ve gotta believe she is – I – I don´t know what kinda wreck I´ll be if I – I don´t do anything I can!" a croaked. Lau Mi was looking older than I remembered, her eyes weren´t sparkling as brightly as before and her seductive smiles had lessened. „I don´t know how you must feel and I´m sad." I sighed. „But Boomer died saving people – I guess he´s content with that." I responded with a frog in my throath. Lau Mi turned away from me and hugged herself. „You´re an asshole." she responded in a hitching voice. „I´m cold." she stated and went to shove some more coals in the already blazing oven. „I know – I´m bad with women, I don´t even know why exactly I´m here." I responded while I was blushing furiously. Lau Mi stood there in silence. She was a strong woman, even if she was an artist. She really would have been good for Bumi, but that notorious little twerp of course had to get another woman in his vast collection instead. It was a felt eternity later, I was already dozing off, as her voice made me jolt upright in the soft, leather clad chair.

„Since you´re here already, let´s drink tea. A good tea makes the worries fly away – my granny always said so." she responded and climbed up the ladder. It felt good to have somebody there who could relate to you – Sokka of course could not understand me. I was truly grateful she couldn´t and actually I prayed she NEVER would understand what I felt like right now. „Are you working again?" I asked her, for artisans working was as important as breathing was for normal people. „Of course, how should I stand my days otherwise." she laughed bitterly „I don´t even are interested in sex right now – mostly because I´m afraid what happens when I´m giving it a go." she admitted silently. I grinned. Even ten years ago I would have stammered something inaudible to excuse myself but with age there came frankness. I could understand that quite well, it has been the same after Yumi died. Of course I had yearned for closeness and physical contact but the sole thought felt – bad.

„You should take the time you need Lau Mi, you don´t need to make it thirteen years like me though." I responded dryly. Lau Mi snorted. „Really? Come on Lee – with your looks? I´m no idiot." she frowned. What?! I just wasn´t some kind of floozy - fucking simply wasn´t that important for me, also I´ve had a little daughter! „Sokka was six as Yumi died, I couldn´t simply get myself another wife, not that I found a woman that interested me." I responded truly. She frowned. „Interested?" she obviously was quite startled. „Yeah – where´s the fun otherwise." I responded while she was setting down a tea pot on the oven. „So - I´m interesing?" she teased, I wrinkled my nose. „A tad – but you´re still too girly." I responded with a twinkle. Lau Mi giggled at a joke unknown for me, then here eyes turned sad . „I understand – so that´s your reason." she played with a bluish looking fingernail.

Obviously the artist still paid great attention to her looks, which was a good thing. „And – are you working Lee?" she asked me. I quipped a smile. „Of course – how should I get my rent paid otherwise. Selling the best homemade noodles of Rep Center, straight in front of the police headquarters." I responded in Shirou Shinobis sing-song voice. „That´s the reason I look so shitty – since I don´t get much sleep." I explained the obvious while my head turned foggier by the minute. „That´s good." she responded and frowned. „No matter what kind of disguise you think you´re wearing – you really should add some shoes." she chided me while eying my dirt staring feet. „Yes mommy." I responded, she frowned. „I´m no mommy!" she sounded quite indignated. Shortly afterwards the tea pot was piping. Where exactly Lau Mi found the two colorful cups was something I wouldn´t want to dig into.

The steaming Olong nevertheless was quite good. I took a short sip. We just sat there in silence. This time it was comfortable. „So you´re always up this late? I mean, your door was still unlocked – that´s dangerous!" I responded. Lau Mi blinked disturbed, she looked quite adorable. „Of course – it´s just the first hour after midnight. That´s my most productive time of the day!" she responded. I dropped my jaw. How could somebody be productive this late at night? She tugged on her cap. „Something else... just how did you come into the tattoo business? I mean – usually that´s the domain of grizzled old farts who sniff frograt shit on a daily basis." Lau Mi snorted. „Gods, you´re really hilarious Lee. When was the last time you went to a tattoo studio?" she asked. I shrugged „I guess that´s close to thirtyfive years." I scratched my head. „Well – the whole spiritual mumbo jumbo around tattoos has lessened a great deal in the republic. Of course there still are a lot of people who do not want to express their personality with my art but tribal connection or some political and religious stuff I´m not interested in." she responded.

I was quite surprised, had I really missed such an important trend? I´ve always been the tattoo gal guy even though Lau Mi overdid it even for my tastes. „I´ve had to pay the old man thrice the usual price for making a „wordly tattoo" as he phrased it." I responded while showing off the dragon on my upper arm. He still looked like a dragon even though he had become slightly thicker. Lau Mi looked at me with the eyes of a professional. „That´s good craftsmanship." she admitted. „If you ever feel the need for something else, I´d make you a good price." she offered. I licked my lips. „I don´t know what motive I would want. I´ve never had the time to give it a good thought. I´m wondering about your motives though – they´re so surreal." I admitted while pointing at her arm, where a green, red monster with huge teeth was devouring a cute little hippocow. „I try to show feelings to the people – unhindered by culture or tradition. That´s what I´m doing. Sadly most people just wanna get inked by me because I´m somewhat popular now. Actually I´ve always wanted to be a real artist, not just some needle swinging gal in a tiny atelier." she sighed.

„But in my youth I was too undisciplined, I thought society didn´t understand me – which it still doesn´t." she responded frustrated. „But I did protest too much and so I didn´t get any scholarships for the academy, I had to earn some money after leaving elementary school since my parents weren´t willing to support me anymore. Well - I´m not into whoring or obeying every whim of some old geezer in exchange for being able to study. So, I´ve had to cut life some slack. I learned the art from my uncle and took over his place as he died. That was in the Buffalo flats – it were hard years. Then I suddenly had the luck to get to know some quite popular hard tribal guys that liked my tattoos – and then I was making so much money I could move here." she waved her hands around.

I jerked awake after I had been dozing off for a second. „You really should take a bath Lee." Lau Mi responded. „If you´re sleeping in this dirty stuff – brr." the woman shuddered in disgust. I had to quip a grin. „That´s quite the generous outfit if I compare it to things I wore in my youth." I responded dryly, which made the artist cringe even more. „That´s no excuse!" she snapped. „You´re filthy and you´re at my place! So you´ll follow my rules." she reassured herself. „Follow me." she still had no intention of locking the door. We weren´t in some rural smalltown for Koh´s sake! „The door." I mentioned the obvious. I would´ve been quite nervous to leave my door open for more than a few minutes.

Lau Mi chuckled. „Geez Lee, we´re not in the dragon flats or such. Only students are living here, there isn´t much to steal. Furthermore the people here have an eye out for each other." she responded happily. „We´re like some kinda family here – a quite eccentric one but still – a family." she explained to me. I highly doubted that, but who was I to argue with her? I wasn´t living here, so I had no idea how the people were. „Well, I´m definitely locking my door once I´m home!" I stated. Then I climbed up the ladder before Lau Mi set a foot on it. I really didn´t need to get an attractive womans cunt in my field of view right now. The artisans flat was as disorderly as the atelier, and dimly lit by selfmade gas lamps. The colors were warm and dark, nothing like the colorful paintings in the tattoo studio. The furniture was quite expensive, the couch definitely was older than me and straightly imported from Ba Sing Se. „Somebody is filthy rich." I stated dryly as I encountered a painting of Irniq Arlacksson.

Even if it was a copy it was worth a small fortune. Lau mi stared at me. „Y-You know what that is?" she was baffled. „Of course, that´s a quite well made copy of Irniq Arlacksson´s rain over Ba Sing Se. One of his most autobiographic works – has to do with the tragic love of his life, a married woman." I sighed. „I´ve been friends with Len Bei Fong, so I´m quite well informed in everything that has to do with classic art." I responded dryly. Lau Mi´s face dropped. „Chief Bei Fong? Art? Are you kidding me Lee? That woman is some kind of – of – job incarnate. And she was behaving so manly." Lau Mi added. I frowned.

„She´s supposed to be that way, at least that´s what this brickhead has been thinking since childhood. Actually she always wanted to be an artisan, but since she´s a Bei Fong she just HAD to take up her mothers legacy, even though she really hated it. I mean, she was last of class in the police academy even though she´s always been an excellent student in school." I explained. „Also her mother really wasn´t interested in what her daughters did for a living, or if they did anything at all. She´s always said that she wanted them to „chase their mother-fucking dreams"" I cited the late Toph Bei Fong. Lau Mi shook her head in disbelief.

„And I always was disturbed when Bumi told stories containing TenTen and littly Linny." she admitted. „Without a doubt he made vomitting sounds all the time. But...urgh...they really DID write love poems to each other." I responded feeling rather queasy. Lau Me was making a quite frighening cooing sound. My hair rose – this woman was a dangerous entity! „How cute!" she squealed in delight. „So, make yourself at home Lee, I´ve some outlines to draw. Kids these days are so impatient it´s startling." she shook her head. „If they weren´t paying so well I´d kick them out of my business. Seriously – they expect me to whip up a perfect motive from their incomprehensive rambling. A motive that´ll look good in thirty years too, and on top of that I should do so in two days." she frowned. I smiled. „Tell me about customers – these pricks want to have their ramen ready at once, also they want to eat top quality meat, but please make it so cheap that it can rival the contents of a dumpster." I sighed. People these days really were disregarding good food.

These bloody flameo noodles should burn in hell! I eyed the couch closely, it was almost smiling at me. „Where´d you get this couch?" I asked the artisan who was prepairing a large piece of paper, brushes and paints in a well oiled routine. „I´ve ordered it from young couch maker, he´s founded his own company in the district. It was payment for an extensive amount of tattoos." she smiled. Indeed there always was a ton of new businesses in Republic City and I was wondering if it had become some kind of trend to create your own company. I seated myself on the furniture, it´s green velvet was soft and over all this thing was a damn fine couch that definitely was worth more than the entire content of my flats. While Lau Mi started humming a soft tune I dozed off as if a switch in my head had been flipped.

I suddenly jolted awake as the sun was shining into my sweaty face. I moved and noticed that I still was sitting in the chair. My whole body was hurting. He looked around. Lau Mi was sleeping in a huge bed that easily had enough space for three of four people – I guessed the poor furniture had expierienced such hard loading quite frequently. The artisan had curled herself up into a ball and was sleeping silently. I was shocked – already broad daylight and I wasn´t standing in front of my woks. Lao definitely would worry and lateron ramble at me. I really wasn´t looking forward to one of his talks. I then went into Lau Mis bathroom and cleaned myself for I indeed was stinking like a rabbiroo. Then I wrote a short note in which I thanked her for her hospitality and wished a productive day. It was impolite to wake up your host and so I simply left the house though the still open door. „Crazy bitch." I muttered under my breath, since I still couldn´t understand how somebody could not lock one´s door during the night! Then my feet carried me home rather swiftly. The exercise helped my soored muscles to loosen themselves up.

I then went upstairs to change into my business attire before prepairing the cart for half a day. As I returned to my flat I was wondering, since a Letter had been pinned to the door. It was looking quite expensive, with a brocate ornated envelope, the Bei Fong Seal and all. What the hell was that supposed to mean? I dragged the nail out of the door and hastily opened the letter, not caring that the seal broke. I opened the door and entered. Since I was to agitated to light some candles first I had to read in the dim light of my flat.

Dear Bei Gao Lee,

as an old friend of Bei Fong Lin you are invited to the funeral ceremony that will be held in the Bei Fong´s private graveyard in Zhao Fu on the twentysecond of the squirreltoad. You can used this letter to charter one of the airships of Bei Fong trading Inc. For bringing you to Zhau Fu. We´ll be happy to welcome you in our household for the time of the passing rites. If you want to contribute to the ceremony, please contact the organizer – Bei Fong Chin for details. We then can decide how we can include your passing words in the ceremony. We thank you for your sympathy and hope to see you soon.

Yours sincerely Bei Fong Chin

I simply tore the letter to shreds cursing. I was treated like some bloody business associate – not like a member of the family! So this was Su Yins petty revenge? Really? That was outright hilarious! Just because I had beaten the shit out of her bratty self and called her a criminal whore in the flash of a moment. Gods, that was more than twenty years down the yellow river! If she had grown up for a shim she would´ve been thankful for my actions that only proved I had tried to be the big brother she hadn´t had. After all she had BEEN a criminal whore, who had sex with anyone just to prove she could. Dammit that bitch even waited in MY bed – stark naked and with Ben Wa balls in her cunt! And as I politely declined the offer – ok, maybe I wasn´t polite – she stated that a poor streetrat like me couldn´t even afford a blowjob of her´s. I then totally went off the rails of course...

Still it hurt a bit. „Better get your gods damn job done Lee." I reminded myself and finally started the preparations.

Authors note: Here we go again. I´ve decided that I really should do more OCs in this fic. What´re your oppinions - are you interested in certain POV chapters? Any ideas about the further storyboard? I came here to nerd out hardcore - with other people so feel free to give your thoughts.

A nice day to all of you. Yours sincerely InTheHood (who sadly still isn´t a native speaker)


	24. Interlude: the Sword Demon

**Interlude: The Sword Demon**

Tian Shi Lang looked at the ironclad men behind him. They were 20 heads, 20 of the most loyal and proficient soldiers the earthern armies had produced in the years since the great war. Still the tax official was afraid. They were sent to the plains of Chu Da to collect the tax. The Lords had not paid a shim since the fall of Kuvira, they had sent apologies. Rebuilding their cities – Bullshit, in the plains of Chu Da no battles had been fought. Until now the government had tried persuasion but now they would throw a small pebble to remind the Ling Household that he wasn´t the royal family. Tian Shi Lang himself could not blame his peers, they were NOBLES and not some upstart peasants. Demanding taxes from them was just bad taste! After all they had to run businesses and take care of their lands, which demanded a lot of money. Furthermore a noble could not live like a peasant, that was against the laws of nature. Even amongst the animals the pack leaders ate different parts of the prey – and they had the dignity to die if they couldn´t claim their birthright anymore. Still it was his duty as an official to collect the tax. It was a sacred duty of the noble class, which was the reason why he had chosen this profession. And sadly he was not able to simply turn a blind eye, mostly due to the bulky soldiers who without a doubt would stand at the governments side even though they got nothing but a measly wage out of it.

At least they didn´t respond to him in the impolite tone his peasant upstart colleagues did! In the plains of Chu da everybody who wore emerald and gold was respected, the people put aside their tools and bowed low when Tian Shi Lang passed. These were good peasants – his heart swelled as he felt that the world was as it should be. The nobleman did not notice that the most peasants were looking quite poor, their simple clothing patched up numerous times, and their tools old an worn. The soldiers however did and if the tax collecter had paid more attention to the armoured, jian carrying men he would have noticed that they were rather nervous. He had heard many things about the man he was going to meet today. Ling Hei Shong was the younger brother of the famous young lord of the Ling clan. He wasn´t a true prince like his brother but he was a successful businessman. Also he was quite whealty, even for a high lord, and that earned him a lot of face. Still there were rumors going on about him hiring ten Bu Shin as personal guard and employing even shadier suspects to enforce his authority. Without a doubt the rumors were exaggerated, because no civilized man like a Ling could perform such acts of cruelty. Tian Shi Lang didn´t believe that Hei Shong had made a servant drink acid in front of his guests because the whine he picked wasn´t suited for his tastes.

If a noble did crazy things like that he didn´t deserve his titles! After all noblesse obligued - that was one of Tians priciples. He eyed the fields that somehow seemed, ill worked – it was surprising that the Ling clan tolerated something like this. The young man decided to have a closer look at the fields and as he did he noticed that the fields were largely neglected, also he wasn´t able to see any men working in then. He only observed women and children, which was quite fishy! Since the Lord hadn´t registered any large construction project he was asking himself what the male peasants were doing! The impression that the Ling clan might be up to some kind of revolution, like rumors in the tea salons indicated, was hardening since there were a LOT of men present in the villages. But these scarred, rugged looking individuals definitely weren´t meek peasants but marauding scum that had thrived on the rivalry between warlords and self proclaimed kings. They stared at the tax official and his escort with unmasked hate. Tian Shi Lang gulped and suddenly wished he had twohundred soldiers at his command. While they were passing the village one of these bandits blocked the way in front of them. He had a green skull tattooed over his face and was wearing some patched up armor and a heavy glaive. „HOLD!" he yelled with an autority that belied his dirt smeared, unkempt appearance. The nobles body reacted before he could muster a straight thought. He halted his oostrich horse. His soldiers fanned out, they were short of drawing their swords.

The other mercenaries also had grabbed their extensive weaponry and were eying the well clad soldiers with the eyes of starving wolfbats. The recent times had been harsh for men like them who were too violent and short fused for being used in usual triad business. „What do you want – peasant." Tian Shi Lang tried to save his dignity, still his voice was shivering, while fear seeped into his bones. A dignified noble was fearing some two legged beast with and uncivilized weapon, he was quite furious at himself. Still his hair was standing up and he wanted to turn his mount around to disappear out of this scary looking mans presence. The mercenary spit out in the officials direction, which made him clench his fists. Why in the ninetinine hells wasn´t he doing something. He should give his soldiers the order to chop this man to pieces but he didn´t. „Stop barking dog. The lord want´s to see ya, otherwise my boys would´ve killed you an you proper tin soldiers already." the man responded. The soldiers drew their swords.

Still the mercenary remained calm, even if his sturdy frame seemed a tad more lively now. „Who´s your Lord?" the tax collector asked puzzled. What man would hire such a troupe of rabid dogs? Men like these should be quartered, or burned on a stake! The merc laughed. „ Ling Hei Shong of course." he responded with a smile. „That guy´s quite the man, despite stemming from some prissy girls loins." he responded in a sneering tone. The noble was speechless at this open insult. „You scum should shut the fuck up, or I´ll carve a new smile in your fuckin belly." one of the soldiers threathened in righteous fury. „Yeah?" the mercenary responded while giving a challenging stare. „Kill them." he responded in an almost coloquial tone. Nevertheless the earth nation soldiers had waited for something like this. The animals charged, they screamed, while earthspikes, rocks and javelins were hurled at them. Tian Shi Lang was frozen in horror. It was as if everything was happening way too fast for him to process. He had never seen a war, and the most violent thing he had expierienced in his live had been the public execution of a murderer. He wasn´t even able to draw the ornated Jian that hung on his side, since his hands were trembling.

His Oostrich horese whas screaching and tried to get out of the quickly escalating mayhem. Screams were everywhere as oostrichhorses were felled by spearrs, and human limbs were squashed or chopped off. There wasn´t any kind of formation, it was just pure chaos that had broken loose. Suddenly something warm sprayed into his face, it was sticky and took away his vision. He screamed in panic as his mount made some steps and then collapsed suddenly. It´s head had been chopped off with an almost inhuman strength. The mercenary, whose eyes were glowing in an eerie, unnatural red was smiling as the noble screamed in panic and tried to scramble away while shitting and pissing himself. The soldiers were holding their own quite well, even though they were clearly outnumbered. The mercenary wasn´t giving a damn about his dying comrades. „I want to cut, cut cut CUT you to pieces trash!" he yelled while sounding almost extatic. Indeed his hands were trembling like a drug addicts on withdrawal. „S-Stay away from me- demon!" Tian Shi Lang yelled, his voice barely surpassing the screams and fighting sounds that were still ringing in the dusty air. Even if the young man was mustering every ounce of strength his slim body held he couldn´t drag his left leg from beyond the horses cadaver. „I- I must not, not CUT, CUU...raaaagghhh!" the man yelled and grabbed his head while almost invisible, red flames were engulfing his body.

Tian Shi lang almost faded as he stared into the abyss. Even some soldiers were fazed by the wiry mans sudden presence. They froze in their movements and were easily killed by their opponents. He panted heavily, while sweat drenched his dirt staring face. „You cowardice is making my blood boil – bastard." he adressed the noble, while his glaive also started glowing in the same strange red. He threw the heavy weapon with an almost lazy seeming movement of his arm. It hissed through the air like an angry tree viper and clearved a soldier in two – from head to foot. His bones withering at once. The man sighed contend and grabbed the legs of the oostrich horse while the glow intensified and the outlines of an ancient seeming, heavy armor, could be seen. His eyes were blazing like hellfires. He simply threw away half a ton of meat and bones, while yelling loudly, even though the noble was forming a triangle with his fingers the obviously possessed man did not leave him alone.

He simply grabbed his throath and lifted the helplessly trashing man up – it felt as if Tian was hitting a brickwall. It was unnatural how fast Tian Shi Lang fainted and a cold, blackness consumed his very being. The Bu Shin dropped the limp noble and again grabbed his glaive. He smiled in bliss. „I´ll CUT YA ALL...!" he yelled and moved with a speed that was humanly impossible. Stones shattered in front of him as his glaive moved at a speed most kenpo-fighters weren´t able to produce with a tiny bamboo stick. It didn´t take the time you needed for repeating a mantra a hundred times until every last man in the village was a cleaved and mutilated body. The Bu Shin was blood stained from head to toe as he stood there panting! The glow faded slowly and the man sunk to his knees. He was chuckling madly.

„Geez you´ve run quite wild Mao rang. Well – who gives a fuck!" he shook his head and went over to the still unconscious young man. There was disgust on his face as he lifted him onto his shoulders like a sack of rice. His master had ordered him to take the tax official alive, since he was a man of standing. To the mercenary a dishonorable coward like that wasn´t worthy to live for a single day – but this wasn´t his matter to decide. He needed to fill his stomach and since he had had a good fight his spirit compagnon would be quite pleased for the next few weeks. He shouldered his glaive and walked towards the hill, where the large manison of the Ling Clan could be seen – even if it just was a summer house it was so pompous that he would have loved to plunder it. Raping the women of his master also was quite tempting. The power that would give him, the lone thought created an erection.

Note: So my dear readers. Not all Bu Shins are good guys – WHAT a surprise! Since I´m no big gore fan I kept it short, but still that´s a point to be made. Guys like this merc are the reason for... well I´ll not spoiler you too much. But let me tell you – WAR´s knocking on Ba Sing Ses door again.


	25. A womans gratitude

**A womans gratitude**

* * *

She grit her teeth as she tried to push herself up from the ground again, but her arms were burning and felt rather noodle like. Also her sides hurt like hell. Lin Bei Fong was sweaty and looked rather strange, since she was wearing a yellow flowered sleeping gown while trying to do push-ups. Tao was working at Sato constructions somewhere in the outskirts of the republic to get his family fed. The wiry man was far from happy about an additional, quite expensive, mouth on his table. Most likely it only was Dandan who insisted on Lin staying in the tiny flat. Lin felt guilty as hell, she was endangering these good people, who couldn´t even defend themselves from a single thug! She let out a frustrated growl, since her body felt so pathetic and weak it almost made her cry in fury. Why didn´t she die? Why was it Bumi who wasn´t able to return home! She never would be able to look into Tenzins warm eyes anymore. He would HATE her! She had messed up everything, which was one of her biggest fears come true! A Bei Fong didn´t mess up, a Bei Fong toughed shit out... That was what her mother would´ve told her! „Stop being a gods damned sissy." she hissed furious at herself. It wasn´t over – the men who were responsible for her friends death, and so many other innocent sacrifices were still scheming their secret plans in the plains of Chu what COULD she do?

* * *

Her own men had killed her off – she had lost her seat and could blame nobody besides herself for it. It hurt like hell, wehenever she thought about only thing she had achieved in her life had been torn away and nothing but a deep black hole of self pity and rage remained. But she wasn´t ready to die – not by her own hands. That was a sin against the mother of faces! Even if Lin hadn´t grown up in a very religious household there were certain things she would never do because it was sinful! Luckily her secret stashes should be intact. Of course she had been prepared for something like this – the day she was relieved of her duty just because she lost her bending had opened her eyes! She shook her head and clenched her eyes shut. Dandan could return from the market every minute and she wouldn´t be weak in front of the old woman again. It was awkward enough that she had cried in front of her once, even if Lin couldn´t remember anything besides a rough hand holding hers. She got up from the floor feeling even dirtier than before. Living in a house without a water tap was uncomfortable. Also Lin couldn´t stand matcha-rice any more. The poor people ate it thrice a day, seldomly accompanied by something that didn´t look as if it had been short of being thrown into a dumpster. So that was the reason why Lee was so furious when somebody left food on the plate!

* * *

If she imagined that her friend had grown up somewhere even shabbier and poorer she wondered how he turned out such a nice and content man. That she had looked down on the earth nations, where people still lived in servitude while even in front of her doorstep was so much poverty! All these bloody charity balls suddenly seemed quite hypocritic! Yes, she had known that there were street orphans, she had seen a lot of the abyss that lead to crime and murder, but she never had lacked a safe and proper home to return to. Even if that home had been a lonely, dusty apartment for the last decades it still had been HER room. Here she was perched up in an even smaller apartment with five people! She couldn´t stay here forever and she couldn´t simply go to Tenzin, Asami or somebody else who was on the squirreltoads radar. She had to remain dead, because otherwise the last pillar of the police force, Hungshu Ping, would be shattered and then there would not be much that could stop the Lings from taking over the Republic - if their plans in the earth nations succeded. That risk was far too great! Lin couldn´t imagine a life in the feudal system of the earth nation, where even a high born and skilled woman like herself was nothing more than a decorative vase for birthing sons! She would refuse to live in such a society until her last breath, even if it mean that she had to be a fugitive or a criminal.

* * *

She had to change her appearance until people didn´t recognise her anymore. She sat up and wiped over her sweaty face. Changing her haircut and hair color would be a first step. Uncle Sokka had loved masquerading and Lin had been a very eager to accompany him on his quirky hobby. Because masquerading was one of the rare moments where she could display a more feminine side her mother would not have accepted. She was sure of that since her sister had argued with her mother about this topic so many times she couldn´t come close to remembering an accurate number. Maybe she also should´ve argued with her more often! Still, the new Lin could not be some girly gal – the scars in her face and her whole bearing made that impossible. So she had to play the sort of uncivilized, slutty woman she never wanted to become. She had to act a lot like her mother. That still was an unsolved problem too. Luckily she always had stayed in touch with the various trends in fashion, so she knew perfectly well how a modern Toph Bei Fong would look like! Nobody would expect her to wear revealing clothes and colorful hair. She sighed as she thought about getting herself inked and pierced like some self proclaimed party whore. That would be so humiliating and expensive! But it was the safest option she had for leading some kind of life in a place where not everyone was blood related with each other! There was just one thing that wasn´t outright shitty and that was the fact that the mountain called „ _Chief of Police_ " had been taken from her shoulders. But with the weight also a lot of her strength seemed to have left her.

* * *

What should she do now? Who should she be – all these choices were driving her close to hysteria. There wasn´t any order in her life, there wasn´t anything that couldn´t happen. That along with the guilt she felt for Bumis death was what, sometimes, made her feel like slumbering in the afterlive wasn´t a bad alternative. But in her heart of hearts she knew that her time hadn´t come yet, furthermore she had left many things unsaid. For example she had not dared to press her mother to tell more about her father even though she had the right to! She also hadn´t thanked Lee for everything he had been doing for her, she hadn´t even told him that she had been lighting inceses sticks for Yumi every morning – like she did for uncle Sokka. Also there was this bastard Tang – the man who had taken her name from her! She wanted to gauge both his eyes out and cripple him so that he never again would be able to hurt a fly. And then, then she would leave him in the streets just like he had left her. The hate was burning in her vains and lins face distorted into a mask of icy fury. „I´ll make you regret you´re born you bloody whoreson." she hissed, suddenly able to add further ten push-ups to her workout routine. When Dandan returned with her bags she found a breathless woman lying on the floor with a steaming, red face. „You really should give your body the time it needs to recover child. If the wounds in your eye socket are torn open again I can´t fix them anymore. I´m just a retired nurse, not a full fledged healer." the woman chided her, she placed the bags on the shabby looking table that was the only furniture in the apartment. Lin let out a noise of surprise. She had never thought that nurses were earning such a low wage that they weren´t able to live out their days in a mediocre luxury.

* * *

„You – were a nurse Dandan? So – why´re you so poor then?" Lin asked disturbed and saddened. The woman signed and smiled. „I´m not poor child. I´ve got a caring son in law and beautiful grandchildren. Also We´re somehow getting by and Shi Shen even manages going to school. I´ve more than my parents ever had... that my hubby was a gambler was my fault. But I still chose him, and I loved him – even if he was quite the jerk somethimes." she responded proudly. „As a noble lady you might think we´re living in hell – but we´re free people Miss Bei Fong. We have peace and enough food, that´s what really is important, and it makes this old woman happy to live like that." she responded content. Lin had to turn away because tears were flowing out of her whole eye. This woman was content with her live, she even saw the good sides in her poverty. She was plainly envious. „Free..." she croaked in thought. „I...I´d love to be like you Dandan." she admitted while staring at the paintless wall in front of her. „I know you´re having a very hard time Lin. I´m allowed to call you that, right?" she reassured herself. Dandan still held an extraordinary respect for the noble class in general. „Yes – please." Lin mumbled in a low voice. „And I also know that you can´t stay here forever, you know that right?" she responded sounding almost guilty. „Yes – you´ve done more than I ever can pay you back for Dandan. But I know I can´t stay in this room forever. Also I´ve to fetch some of the money I´ve saved for such an occasion." she responded in a surprisingly formal tone. „You have?" the old woman seemed startled. „Of course. I – was sure that something like that could happen. I´ve never been half the Chief my mother was, no matter what the newspapers said. I – couldn´t step in her boots. No matter how hard I tried." she admitted ashamed. It was the first time she had admitted that to anyone. The old woman wasn´t responding anything. Suddenly a cool hand was patting her shoulder, Lin shrugged it off as she again felt the knot in her chest constrict painfully. „Do you know any tattoo artist who doesn´t ask questions Dandan?" Lin asked the old woman.

* * *

Dandan still was earning her share by treating the people, and of course a lot of her customers were thugs who got cut up in their quarrels. The old woman never asked questions, which was the reason why she and her family were left alone. Most likely that was the only reason why the terras hadn´t searched her flat and found Lin up till now. If she was correct she had been here for more than a month! Still Lin couldn´t bear the thought of pushing their luck for much longer, she wouldn´t be able to forgive herself if something happend to Dandan, or Shi Shen and his siblings, because of their selfless help. The old woman blinked. „Well – I wouldn´t call my friend Zhu Li an artist." the woman grinned. „Even if she is very um... proud... of her skills with the needle her eyes have become quite short sighted and her hands aren´t as steady as they were." she responded. „So you´ll become you own woman?" she asked Lin, while the atmosphere suddenly turned grave. Lin gulped. „Your own woman" her throath constricted, hadn´t she given up on that as she left elementary school? She was a Bei Fong, and a Bei Fong couldn´t be an – artist. She buried her face in her hands until the wound hurt and she had to remove the right hand. „You´re not your mothers property! Or this states slave! You´re LIN Bei Fong child! It seems nobody told you that before but you can´t live FOR people – you only can live YOUR life." the old woman responded in a soft tone. „You´re still in front of your golden years so this might be the last chance you have for changing who and what you are! So I beg of you, don´t let it go to waste because you think you´ve got a duty to do something. Because the world doesn´t have a duty towards you Lin... For the world it doesn´t matter what you do or if you die – it moves on." she trailed of and started unpacking her bags, which mostly contained small sacks of rice.

* * *

Lin felt as if her head was split with a pickaxe. „I´ll lie down." she responded weakly and cautiously lowered herself on her futon. She wasn´t able to sleep at all. Dandans words were pulling strings in her chest she didn´t want to be pulled. She had never seen her current situation as a CHANCE. Also she had no idea what she wanted to do now. She wanted to contact her friends and family. She couldn´t stand the thought that they thought she was dead – but could she really stay in Republic City? Should she go to Miyako? And what then? Should she try to engage into the art trade with her last savings? Wasn´t she too old for something like that? What would happen if she failed again? And what would her mother say to her descision – would she disown her? Lin did yearn for her mothers recognition, she yearned for it as much as she yearned for a lover. But could she really have these things? Wasn´t it better to be realistic and admit she had fucked everything up? Wasn´t it better to drown herself in sake and wait for the shinigami to come? „Could you make an appointment with your friend Dandan? Don´t worry I´ll easily be able to pay her if I can asess my stashes. Still I´d need to change my style drastically to do so. Starting with this haircut!" Lin sighed. She loved her hair like it was – it had a timeless elegance and femininity that most haircuts lacked.

* * *

Still she should wear a wolftail, short cropped hair, a ponytail or something even stranger. Furthermore she had to dye her hair green or red - like it was popular among hard tribal gals and other fashion freaks. Tattooing Back and arms was something she also disliked. But even her sister Su, who in her criminal days had been an uppity bitch, had a tattoo on her lower back. And since Su´s bad-girl days the trend towards tattoos had been enhanced drastically. Bloody wettism! Tatoos were something manly and Lin really didn´t want to be even more tomboyish than she had been her whole life. Lastly she had to change her face because she would wear long sleeves in winters, which would make her look a lot more like her old self - especially when her hair was hidden under some kind of shawl or cap. Wearing a ton of makeup only was a temporary solution, since Lin had no idea how long she would be able to afford the expensive pastes. There was not much that changed a face more than piercings, especially if one considered the fact that she already was scarred. She would look like some aged triad bitch – which was something not even Tenzin would expect of her. And if not even Tenzin expected something like that the Ling clan´s agents and corrupt cops for sure wouldn´t!

* * *

Still the lone thought made Lin scowl in disgust. She would look really ugly, and that hurt! The only good thing she could think of was the fact that she wouldn´t stick out at a hard tribal concert anymore – which meant she would be able to visit one if she had the money – but that wasn´t consoling at all. She continued staring into nothingness and didn´t even notice that the children returned home for luch. Dandan, silenced them with a risen indexfinger and the little ones obeyed as they noticed Lin´s curled up form. They had taken a liking to the strange woman who easily solved Shi Shens math homework and told the best horror stories they had heard in their lives. But they also knew that she was dangerous and that nobody was allowed to know her name. „Lin, are you hungry?" BaoBao asked with a squeaky voice. Lin flinched as she suddenly was torn out of her scheming. She was thinking about motives for her tattoos, motives that at least helt SOME meaning, even if they were ugly! Doing something like that wasn´t easy, especially if you hadn´t a notebook and a coal pen. „Err...No Baobao, thank you. I´m not hungry today. You should eat my portion too." Lin smiled at the little girl. Baobao was a round faced, wiry girl with curly brown hair. Lin would´ve loved to have a daughter like her. „Do you know the story of the white princess and the beggar prince?" she asked the little girl who of course was into fairytales. BaoBao shook her head and eagerly jumped up and down. „No...please tell it...tell it...tell it." the girl chirped. For a split second Lin enjoyed herself. „No stories before dinnertime!" Dandan replied while stoking the small iron oven. Lin smiled as she remembered a time in which Aunt Katara also had forbidden fairytales before dinner. „Yes, your grandmother is right BaoBao." she responded with a twinkle. „But if you eat your fill and then sell a lot of matches I could tell it, since it´s a really long story." she responded. The girl groaned and pouted. „That´s not fair." BaoBao grumbled as she returned to her siblings, who were helping their grandmother to shred some already brownish looking cabbage. Since Lin wans´t outright hungry she most likely would have to force the badly spiced meal down her throat. She rose carefully, since her ribs still weren´t fully healed and lowered herself in front of the table, where the old woman was working. „Umm...Dandan – could you buy some plumapple resin?" lin asked blushing furiously. Plumapple resin wasn´t really cheap but it was the best green colorant you could buy. The old woman looked at lins partly gaze wrapped face and chuckled. „Of course I can." her face turned stern.

* * *

„I hope you´re able to pay me back, because that will be a quite devastating blow to my new years eve money." She responded. The children were listening eagerly. „Thank you." Lin smiled a wry smile. Of course she could, but without changing her looks at all she wouldn´t be able to go into the city unrecognized. Finally it seemed the rice was done, since Dandan started shovelling it in the simple clay cups. They hadn´t the money for chopsticks, so everybody ate with their hands. Lin still felt a slight badassery while defiling the strict table manners her mother had drilled into her since a very young age. The cabbage tasted like old grass and the rice was as plain as ever, still she dug in. The children seemed to enjoy their meal, since they weren´t used to anything else. If it was humanly possible she would make shure that Dandan and her family were able to lead a good life, that enabled all children, and not just the only son, to go to school. Maybe Tenzin could take care of that, or her sister. Su Yin owed her more than a few hundred yuan a month and Lin was quite sure that her younger sister would give her the money she demanded without asking any questions. They were family after all, and much to Lin´s marvelling Su did a lot for her family. She had even saved her life without a moments hesitation, which meant a lot. But of course she had to make it to Sao Fu beforehand, which she didn´t deem easily possible – Sao Fu had quite the strict immigration laws, also it wasn´t easy to enter a walled city without filling out some forms or identifying oneself. „Thank you for the meal." Lin responded with a court not as her bowl was empty. BaoBao still was listlessly chewing on the rice. Like most seven year old girls she wasn´t a good eater. „Think of the white princess..." Lin hummed as the child gave her a pounting stare and shovelled rice in her old woman was smiling and wuzzled her granddaughters wild hair. Her two little sisters already had finished eating and were waiting for the allowance to leave the table. Lin thought it disgusting that BaoBao had to work for a living, she had to sell matches on the townsquares, while her little sisters were catching frog rats and other pests for the tiny tail- money that was given out from the city to keep the annoying rhodents at bay. Little children should be playing! That was how tings were supposed to be, even Lin – whose early childhood had been quite dominated by living with aunt Katara, since her mother had spent a lot of time in bars and strange men´s bedrooms, knew that. Her childhood had changed as Su already was a toddler and uncle Sokka had declared her mother his elskan. „Well, then – let´s get back to work. Mai, Li Lang." Baobao suddenly squeaked, her little sister – which were staring of dirt – jerked alert and looked at Dandan. The old woman just nodded. „I´ll wash the dishes darlings." she responded and watched at the kids hurried back into the streets. BaoBao following her sisters in a more dignified way. The old woman sighed and started collecting the bowls.

Lin rinsed her head for the third fourth time. The water that was dripping in the tile clad sink seemed clear now. She had decided herself for a ponytail and „bird cutter" rows, which were parallel running, closely woven hairlines on the side of her head. Luckily she couldn´t see the result of half an hour of cutting an dying. If she correctly read Dandans slightly sour face, she had been quite successful! „Lin – not that it´s my place to question your fashion sense..." the old woman stated dryly. Lin cringed. „I know it´s ugly!" she whined, while flushing brightly. The nurse let out a smacking sound. „ Can´t be helped now." she responded, since the green color could only be removed over a couple of months. Since Lin had a rather slow growing hair it would take quite some time if she didn´t want to run around with an army haircut. „Well Dandan, now I´ve got to fetch the money...Umm if you want you can accompany me of course." she responded while feeling slightly uneasy. After all she was indicating that she wasn´t trustworthy. The old woman smiled while Lin again felt the blood rush into her cheeks. She always had been quite prone to blushing, which still annoyed her quite a bit. Especially since her skin always looked like porcellaine, except in summers where she just looked reddish if she spent too much time outside. „I guess I can trust the woman who saved this town from going bonkers with bender lynching idiots." Dandan responded and patted her cheek. Lin had to stiffle a sob at this, ground her jaw and gathered her courage. She was quite afraid to go outside, because she didn´t think of her disguise as even remotely effective. She was wearing an old ladies sleeping gown after all! But since Dandan hadn´t any spares that would fit the taller woman she just had to stick to the night gown, which was more like a short, quite slim fitting, yellow flowered dress.

Also her head was halfway wrapped in gaze, which would attract quite suspicious stares even if she was walking around in the buffalo flats! Luckily she didn´t need to leave the township, which was frequented by the police quite seldomly. At least that had been the case while she had been Chief and she highly doubted that Ping had changed things. Every thriving metropolis had a pulsing underbelly and if you uprooted it, that had quite severe drawbacks. The most prominent being that scumbags randomly scattered over the districts, which meant that nobody was save anywhere – after all that was what happened as the lower ring in Ba Sing Se fell! It was close to midday and Lin walked out into the street. Luckily it was quite warm, so that she didn´t fell cold in the dress, which wasn´t comfy at all. Lin hadn´t worn dresses for quite a long time, if one skipped rare occasions like Jinoras coming of age ceremony. Also she was walking barefooted and since she didn´t have the almost hoove like callouses her mothers feet were sporting, she had to eye the streets very carefully. So Lin walked on while suspiciously eying the streets. The streets were quite busy since a lot of carpenters, weavers and washing ladies were working on the Wan Shi tong river that was flowing through the township. You couldn´t miss the river since it stunk worse than the central republic canal! Lin almost felt like barfing as she crossed the bridge that lead over the manure, acid and dye laden abnormity that was streaming into Yue Bay. How mother nature took care of THIS was something that deeply worried Lin. The spirits simply couldn´t like it and she feared the day when the river deity, or even worse, the sea gods themselves took their revenge into Republic City! A lot of, scrawny children were playing on the streets screaming and cursing like rugged sailors.

A lot of these children looked quite cheesy an ill, which saddened Lin´s heart. She never had come into these parts of the city willingly since it was just hopeless. She couldn´t help at all, and the council didn´t. Or couldn´t – she had argued about this with Tenzin numerous times as they had been a couple. She strode on, while some little punks were talking about her. „Look at that crazy bitch – don´t know where she comes from but looks quite bangable." some teenager stated without bothering about Lin hearing his words. These words made Lin´s temper simmer, mostly because her mother had been insulted like this quite frequently. Of course Toph Bei Fong, in her endless strangeness, hadn´t been offendet by the hostile comments. Instead she had taken some kind of pride in being called a slut. Lin just stopped in her tracks and turned abruptly even though a searing pain was shooting through her torso. „What did you little maggot spout?" she sneered, with a barely restrained fury washing over her face. Without herself noticing it some cobblestones beside her feet rose from the street and cracked into spiky looking shards. The boys, who weren´t even close to looking intimidating, gulped dryly and nearly pissed their pants as Lin slowly walked towards them.

„So...what did you just call me? Measly little virgins like you shouldn´t be talking about things that you don´t know shit about!" she growled while the kids pressed their backs toward an non retreating brickwall. „I – I didn´t say nuffin!" one of the mumbled while closing his eyes as if he could avoid the womans wrath this way. The other teenager just trembled in fear. „If – you – or you gods damned little punky friends even look at me – far less spout some rumors bout me sellin my private parts... I´ll find you and clobber the shit outta you! And believe me you don´t want that to happen." she threatened them. Just now she noticed the reassuring, solid feeling of the humming remains of the cobblestones. She stepped back, turned and reformed the stones with well measured movements. The two teens however darted away as if they had been chased by a deva king. „Yeah – just scram bastards!" she added while pumping a fist in the air. Some unemployed man was sipping on a cord wrapped bottle while sitting in a chair in front of his doorstep. He just scratched his head and grinned in Lins direction. Lin frowned – yelling and pumping fists in the air really wasn´t her style! She then continued her walk around three blocks, which again led to the Wan Shi Tong river again. The small river had been perched into a roughly twenty strides wide bed made from bricks and concrete. A small, quite rusty looking ladder was leading downwards besides the bridge she was standing on. Lin looked around, since it would be highly suspicious to climb down towards the river. After all the government forbade the people to use this water for washing purposes on the third day. That was so because the carpenter released their wastewater on this day, which made the whole river quite toxic.

Sadly some old woman was shuffling along the street with a huge claypot on her head, so Lin couldn´t climb down the ladder just now. So she seated herself on the street and started whistling the well known flameo noodle song. Of course the old woman changed the roadside and tried to hurry along in front of Lin, who obviously had to be some kind of criminal scum! Still the woman was terribly slow and Lin was quite annoyed. She cocked her head around and, quite suspiciously, climbed down the rusty ladder. Rust stained her hands, but luckily she neither cut herself, nor did one of the ladders rungs break under her weight. She was standing on a small, partially muddy concrete platform, which led under the small bridge above her head. She hurried beyond the bride, while trying to avoid the mud stains, which most likely were quite bad for her bare feet. The steps on the rough concrete were uncomfortably piercing her soles. She closed her eyes and slammed her palms against the wall. The stone was feeling grizzly, like the compressed earth it was. It was quite easy to visualize the wall in front of her inner eye. She at once saw the hollow brick she had inserted a few years ago and bended it out with a descisive pulling motion.

Inside the brick a leather made neckpouch was located. The thing filled out the whole double-brick and was as big as a balled fist. It exclusively contained goldcoins, which made it worth at least a fivethousand yuan. Lin had hidden a further four of these pouches all over the city and she planned receiving them in the next few days. She hung the pouch around her head and hurried back on the street, the horrendous smell of the Wan Shi Tong river still lingering in her tortured nose. She decided that it already was too late to buy decent clothes, also it would be extremely suspicious if she went a shop like she was. She would without a doubt flush and stutter like an imbecile if somebody pointed out she was wearing a way too small night gown. The only fact she got away with it was that it revealed her legs, also she was in the buffalo flats where some people didn´t wear any clothes at all, especially when they had taken dragonbones or other heavy drugs. Luckily the drugaddicts had a lot of deserted houses to hang out an consume their stuff because otherwise the streets here might have been even more dangerous. Lin hurried back to Dandans house, which she found quite easily. She always had had an excellent sense of orientation, which wasn´t true for all Bei Fongs.

As she wanted to disappear inside the flat a fat neighbour observed her with squinting eyes. „Who´re you pretty girl?" the old man rasped sporting stubby blackish teeth along with a sour breath that stunk worse than a hippo cows backside. Lin froze. It would be disastrous if this guy told the people about Dandans secret guest. She blinked dumbfounded, too stunned to give the man a sudden answer. He was leaning on a wooden cane while wearing a colorfully stained robe, which without a doubt was home to an armada of flea and lice. Lin then pointed at her bandaged head. „Gettin that fixed." she responded. „Go stare at somebody else old pervert." she snorted as the old guy was licking his lips while staring at her naked thighs. She then simply opened the door and entered the flat. „You should nock!" the old man responded, but Lin quickly disappeared into the tiny appartment. That led to quite the loud shrieks. „WAAAHHH...Who´s this strange woman!" BaoBao screamed in terror, which most likely saved Lin´s cover. While the children still stared at Lin´s new hairstyle Dandan had already closed the door.

Tao rose from his futon. The man was roughly around Lin´s age. His hair had thinned and anly some singular blackish hairs on his upper lip were reminders of his manliness. „It seems you´re quite well Miss Bei Fong. I´m happy to see that." he responded slightly annoyed. Her sudden appearance had ended his nap quite suddenly. „Yes, thanks to you." Lin responded nodding. „I´m sorry for causing such a disturbance." she responded while BaoBao and her sisters started chanting „White Princess...White Princess...White princess!" the children wanted their story, which made a sudden warmth slither through Lins chest. „BaoBao!" Tao rose his voice and the children were silenced abruptly. They held great respect for their father. „I´ve fetched something to...crhm... honor your hospitality Tao." she responded shyly. In the earthnation it was highly improper to give random presents to your host. Presents were given on the arrival of the guest! Of course that had been impossible for Lin, but that didn´t change her rudeness. The workers face was unreadable as he rose into a sitting position and so Lin decided to go through with her plan. She pulled out the heavy pouch from under the night gown and handed it to the worker. „For your son´s education." she responded while not daring to look at the man. Tao opened the bag and stared at the glittering golden coins. This was more than her earned in three or four years, and it definitely was enough to pay the moderate fees of the Republic universities for the same amount of time. As Lin finally dared to look into Taos direction she saw silent tears streaming over his face as he cupped the leathery bag in his hands. Lin turned as red as a plumato as her host bowed low. „Thank you... thank you very much Lady Bei Fong." he croaked in a teary voice. The children of course were staring at their father openmouthed and even the old woman had to steady herself by leaning onto the table. The only one obnoxious to all of this was Shi Shen. The small, burly boy was strongly focussed on his inuktikut homework, or at least – pretended to be.

Authors note: OMMMM bocome one with the straw sandal...become Iroh...ommmm mani padme hum... Puh that was quite difficult and I hope I did a decent job. What are your opinions?


	26. Interlude: the crooked prince

**Interlude: The crooked prince**

„WAAHHHHHHH!" the man screamed in a girly shreak as he regained his consciousness. He tried to trash around to get away from the Bu Shin, who had almost strangled him. Still he wasn´t able to move his hands, since they were tied on his back. Furthermore his back hurt terribly. He was lying on a cold, hard, wooden floor. His heart was racing and the young man was close to passing out from his own hysteria. Hes green eyes were wide as he noticed that he obvoiusly was in some kind of prison, something that was unbefitting for his position and brought great shame to the man who had arrested him. He was a tax collector and hence a honorable official of the jade throne – even if said throne was unoccupied for the moment! Somehow his panic lessened a lot after this realization. Nobody had ever dared to harm a tax collector since the first southern campaing almost fivehundred years ago. That had a quite solid reason.

Tisho Chin, an otherwise nameless millitary officer in the southern wildernesses had decided to crown himself as king. That wouldn´t have been something uncommon in these regions and these times. But it seemed that the tropical fogs of the south had messed with his head quite badly since he defied the jade throne by decapitating the sent tax official and sending his head instead of the collected money. An army of fiftythousand had been sent south as a response and Tisho Chin had been killed. The savage tribes and any other self proclaimed monarchs also were subdued by brute force and the great city of Chengdu was formed as the personal property of the heavenly emperor. The south hated the heavenly people till this day for the campaign, which in cruelty and senseless slaughter almost equaled the air nomad extermination. Still nobody had dared to defy an imperial tax collector ever since. And Tian Shi Lang was sure that a civilized nobleman like Ling Hei Shong would not make himself equal to an honorless street performer. „Unbind me at once! And apologize for you rude and uncivilized behavior. I´ll see the lord AT ONCE!" he yelled enraged. Even if he had held no deep connection towards the dead soldiers he was furious about their death. They had died like loyal servants and that was something any lord HAD to honor. Even if he wasn´t able to avenge them he would make sure that their widows were taken care of, as it was a lords duty. The young man waited. „Open up the door and untie me you scoundrels – or I´ll make you be drawn to quarters!" he threathened the imbecile jailors which, without a doubt thought of him as a common criminal.

Still there was this – MONSTER lurking around. The young man curled himself up as he thought about the demon that was walking these lands under the dusguise of a mere mercenary. He had thought of the Bu Shin as nothing more than folklore but it seemed that a terrifying grain of truth was hidden in these myths. There were men possesed by war demons, what human could commit such atrocities otherwise? His shivering fingers formed a triangle to ward off the evil spirits. Still – nobody was opening the door, or even reacting at his words. The young lord wiggled on the rough wooden floor, even though splinters painfully pierced his soft, white skin. He finally was able to get up and kicked the door furiously. He yelled as a stinging pain shot through his toes in a moments notice. Some quite uncivilized words escaped his throath. He tried to clasp his hurting toes with his hands, tripped in the process and thundered back on the floor. His head connected with the floor, which led to him almost losing consciousness. The young man groaned, he had never been in so much pain before. „Get me a doctor – at once! I´m injured and you don´t want an officials blood on your hands!" he yelled. „If I die here Ba Sing Se will send an army and the Ling name will be crossed off the scroll!" he threathened. Nobody reacted and in tians foggy head a shocking insight was shimmering. The planes of Chu Da most likely were totally out of hand! To jail a tax collector was open high treason and if he had been inclined to overlook the brutal assault on his men and use his own money to ensure a polite solution for the sake of peace before – he would not turn a blind eye now.

Ling Hei Shong was insulting the jade throne and his family! That was something no nobleman was not allowed to forgive! He would have a Ling bow low – that was the least satisfaction he had to demand, even though the lone thought let him shiver in fear. The Lings were one of the mightiest families in the kingdoms! He cursed and remained silent. He would not loose any more dignity than he already had. Just now he noticed the horrid stink that was ingrained in the room – of course there was no toilet in the cell. Furthermore he could not imagine that somebody cleaned it on a daily basis. The noble was close to vomiting as he imaged the urine and feces of people to be left in the room. To be treated like some kind of lowly animal made tears of fury well in his eyes. No, it wasn´t indignation, since his body was sweating cold sweat. Tian Shi Lang was terribly afraid since he had no idea what would happen to him. The possibility of it being something good was frighteningly low. What was he going to do?

There was no way he could break out of this solid cell, he wasn´t an earthbender like his father. And even if he were he would have no idea what to do next – he wasn´t supposed to be in jail! He was a noble! So he sat there in desperation and gave himself a good cry until his nose was snot clogged and he felt even worse. He was hungry and really needed to relieve himself. „I-I need to use the bathroom – please!" he again yelled in a rather pleading tone. „Please let me out – I didn´t do anything wrong. I, I just did my duty!" he whimpered as he was short of pissing himself but even then nobody opened. So Tian Shi Lang wobbled into one corner of the room. He jelped in disgust as he tapped into something soft and creamy that filled his nose with a well known, disgusting smell at once. Still he pissed against the wall like a dog. He had no idea he would be capable of doing something so indignating. His stomach growled violently afterwards as he francitcally tried to wipe the shit from his foot by dragging it over the wooden floor. It didn´t work and he wasn´t inclined to use hins hands to get his foot cleaner. Also he was thirsty and would without a doubt feel cold very soon. He lowered his head in despair and sighed. He had no idea how long he was locked up in the room anymore, but it seemed almost like an eternity. The young man jolted awake, he wasn´t sure if he had eaten something or if had dreamt of eating some kind of slimy soup without using his hands. Also he could not feel his arms anymore, just a pricking, pulsing numbness.

He heard the clacking sounds of heavy boots. The nobleman rushed to the door at once and baged his head against it, since his toes were still pulsing like crazy. Most likely they were fractured. „Please – open up the door. I´m a royal tax collector, not some criminal scumbag!" he whined. The clacking of boots stopped and a man laughed a mocking laugh. „Oh...I´m a tax collector." the squeaked in a high pitched voice, that somehow sounded familiar. „Where´s all you bravado now you little prick." the voice changed and Tian shi Lang recognized it instantaneosly. It was the demon! The puny wooded door would not protect him from this thing, nor would the ancient signs. Spirits were far more terrifying than he had ever imagined. Tian Shi Lang let out a terrified shreak and scrambled back into a shit stained corner of his room. The man on the other side of the door chuckled humored. „Knock Knoock...who´s there?" the mercenary hummed. The tax collectors throath felt dry and so constricted he could not even breath properly. He clamped his eyes shut, while uncontrollable shivers shook his whole body. A wooden bolt was slid backwards and the door swung open with a slight, creaking sound. Tian Shi Lang screamed. „No – No I didn´t do anything! P-Please don´t kill me!" he wailed as the mercenary stood in the doorframe with an almost lazy seeming grin in his face. His eyes were sparkling merrily as he shifted the smooth, seven span long club in his hands.

He slowly started wrapping cloth around the weapon, while the prisoner sat in shit and piss while whimpering in fear. That was right – a puny coward like him SHOULD be afraid of the mighty Ma Gong Ran, who was the mightiest sword under the heavens! „Well- well. Who am I?" he the still blood stained man mused in a thoughtful voice. Tain Shi Lang gathered all the courage he had left and bowed low as a warm stain impregnated his fine robes. He did not care that his face was stained with the filth of other people. „Master may forgive this idiot who doesn´t know anything!" he yelled shivering. All playfullness left the warriors emerald eyes as he heard the nobles words. Hes eyes were turning reddish as his knuckles turned white around the bats grip. He crossed the short distance and forcefully kicked against Tian Shi langs head. The nobles world spun as he was hit and and dull pain erupted. He screamed and an ugly taste flashed though his mouth.

„Don´t kill me...help – heeeeelpppp!" he yelled in panic. „SHUT UP! A lowly animal like you isn´t allowed to call me master -to speak to me at all!" the mercenary yelled enraged. „I´m a student of the seven great demons you filth – you´re not even allowed to breath the same air as I do!" the mercenary was shivering in rage. „If it weren´t for the lords orders I´d hang you with you own guts and feed your remains to the reindeer dogs!" he growled feral. The bat connected with Tians back with a dull, crunching sound. The man screamed as his ribs were cracked and the mercenary kept pushing on the fractured spots. Then he lifted the bat again and again until the noble wasn´t able to move anymore. Tain Shi Lang was in a world of pain, an like a beaten coondog the only thought in his head was finding a way out of his misery. A calloused hand gripped his long, rich haird and dragged him out. Tian Shi lang screamed, but since his nose was broken just gurgling sounds excaped his throat. „Time ta see the lord filth." the Bu Shin stated genuinely annoyed. The lord, Tian Shi lang didn´t want to see anybody, he just wanted to wake up and find himself in his cushions! But he wasn´t dreaming and he had no idea what this insane, cruel bastard was planning to do with tried to keep up with the long strides of the mercenary ,which of course didn´t work due to his long robes and the fact that he was being dragged on his backside.

He saw some servants, which wore fine clothing but none of them dared to look at him. The turned away their eyes and continued with their work dilligently. He noticed that the parklike garden was meticulously kept. Koiponds, rhododendrons and even more exotic plants from the far west. Tians heart froze as he observed the two soldiers that were guarding the Lord´s main hall. They were clad in emeralt and brown – the well known crest of the Dai-Li proudly adorning their chests, and they did look every inch as emotionless and perfect as the Dai-Li if stories. They opened a sliding door, going so far as lowering their head in front of the filthy mercenary who dragged his prisoner over the finely polished maple-floor. At once a maid hurried out of the room to get some cleaning utensils. The room was excellently furnished, with old valuable furnitures that were dignified even for a man of the Ling clan. Finely clad ladies were playing the harp, the two string violin to a complicated royal tune that only could be mastered after years of hard training. The Lord, Ling Hei sho was resing on an excuisitely carved wooden chair and might have already passed his thirties.

He wore richly ornated jade-green robes. Ruby earrings, a long heavy gold chain as well and a lot of white jade rings showed his dignity and face. He was a rather ordinary looking man with a slightly broad face and a straight nose. His skin was slightly brownish, but his deep black hair and goatee made up for this lack of elegance. His eyes were of a deep, somehow muddy green that indecated firenation ancestors somewhere down his lineage. He looked at the scene like a man of standing, without any readable expression on his face. His nails were perfectly painted and shaped like a dragon´s claws. They were violet and cruel as a panicked Tian Shi Lang observed. The mercenary let go of Tian´s hair and the noble hit his already spinning head on the floor and passed out. As he finally was able to see and hear properly again the mercenary had left the room and only the slightly terrified ladies and the lord were in the room. Hei Sho still was sitting in his chair. „So you dare to collect tax for these ursupers!" he noted cooly. „As a member of the Tian family...don´t you have any shame?" he asked tian with a crooking of hes slim brow. Tian had no idea what the lord wanted him to say. So he said nothing while he wetted himself for a second time. He simply stayed on the floor like a wet rug. „It´s not befitting for a fellow nobleman to kiss the dirt in front of me. That also destroys my face." The lord responded, gripped Tians Shi Langs collar with a veiny hand and dragged him upwards, not regarding the blood that stained his hands.

It took all the strength the young man had to stay in the upright position, even if his body wanted to scream. He swayed slightly. Hei Shong clasped his hands behind his back, he was quite well built, even if he was a bit chubby. „So...if you don´t want to be drawn to quarters for your insolence like a peasant, explain why you´re here." he smiled. „I´ts my – my duty...I – I collected the tax under the Queen... the oath of a noble." he stammered while tears were blurring his sight. He didn´t want to die – there were so many things he wanted to do with his life. He hadn´t even fathered a son! „That is... indeed a dilemma. If one stops serving the jade throne he looses as much face as when he continues his service." Hei Shong responded in a surprising warm voice. „Y-yes my prince!" Tian Shi lang felt a spur of hope running though his chest. Maybe Hei Shong wasn´t as crazy as his underlings, and maybe he was willing to forgive him!

„Yes – I am your prince. Don´t you ever dare to forget this Shi Lang! I´m your liege from this day on. For this one time I´ll share your indignation. I´ll give you a chance - you and the rest of your family. To reclaim their BIRTHRIGHT as the tigerdillos of Mount Tai Shen!" he declared in a loud voice. The beat up man looked up into the suddenly warm eyes of the man. „ You two – take care of him, make sure my friend Shi Lang looks like a worthy sucessor of the Tian family." he waved over two women who put down their instruments and came over in trippling, small steps. „T-Thank you my lord. Th-Th-thank you so much." Tian sobbed and hit his head against the floow again. He did not care that he passed out, he was spared – spared from a horrible fate!


	27. Of Seeking and Finding

**Of seeking and finding**

Of course I didn´t have enough shit on my plate! I really was short of turning into a sobbing, hysteric heap and just the highest amount of willpower kept the machinery named Lee Bei Gao going. I just was so done for that I wasn´t able to handle mentals stress on top of the strain I put my body through. I was nothing besides, skin, muscle and bones anymore. That couldn´t be healthy and most likely it was the main reason for my violent moodswings that were dangerously close to affecting my daily work. But not only was I still wandering the streets after work, no! There was something else that made my chest ache even more than the fact that only my stupid pride wouldn´t accept that Lin had died a dog´s death on a gods forsaken streetcorner. Or worse – that she simply wasn´t giving a fuck about people looking for her! No. Her mother had arrived in the city, Tenzin even sent his personal secretary to inform me. The orange clad alcolyte had been quite the snobby little prick, but he had told that Toph Bei Fong had returned from the wilderness. And she was sick on top of that!

It had delivered the fatal blow to my straw of hope. If not even she was able to find her daughter, using this strange dragon vein mumbo jumbo... Lin wasn´t there anymore. I wasn´t even able to cry about it, since it somehow gave me back some feeling of security. My heart wasn´t close to bursting anymore when I spotted a grey haired woman with wavy hair and so everything became a bit more bearable. Otherwise... I couldn´t go to airtemple island, where Toph had holed herself up. I couldn´t, since I swore a sun oath and a moon oath. I hadn´t kept my word to uncle Sokka and even if it was almost thirty years in the past I still remembered the day a puffy eyed Lin crashed at our place. Sokka had collapsed in his office, he had gotten a heart-stroke. It was almost funny that one of the greatest warriors of the century should die of something so trivial. Heart strokes usually befell fat old saps and dragon bone taking maniacs. Not men like my uncle! Lin barely managed to tell me that he wanted to see me before she started crying together with Yumi. I stormed off and it is close to a miracle that I wasn´t run over by a cart or an oostrich horse on my way to the Kantu hills. His house looked like usual, everything was neat and tidy and even in retrospective it´s an almost ghastly vibe that I felt as I entered though the wooden door that wasn´t even locked.

As I arrived in his bedroom Katara was sitting in a corner looking like a sucked dry plumato, with puddles of water staining the whole room with wet spots. And Toph was sitting right next to the sick councilman while sucking on a bottle of soju. She also blurted that „Sokka behaves like a prissy chick on her crimson days." it was a hollow masquerade she was putting on, even an idiot could hear the edge in her voice. The only one who wasn´t close to exploding was Sokka, who seemed utterly at peace, even if he already looked deathly pale. His voice was silent and not nearly as deep as I remembered it. He silently rose his voice. „Toph, Tara – would you give us some seconds?" even though it was a question it was ringing like a yelled order. Katara just stormed out of the room because she didn´t want her brother to see her crying and Toph huffed herself up to the size of a gorillagoat. She flipped the table, while insisting that she „never would take a fucking leave, when some fucker told" her.

Still she went out after Sokka repeated himself – we both could hear her muffled ranting in the next room, since she simply exited through a wall. The councilman gripped my hand, it felt cold and sweaty. „Please Lee, keep them together. I know I can´t do it anymore. Promise me!" he was so sad -I started sniffling. Then I swore – and Toph Bei Fong heard every word. She knew that I had broken my oath and that robbed me of any kind of face. Not that I would have dared to go to her if she had not listened. I owed her more than my mother, and of course I loved her. She was familiy, admittely a quite feisty and headstrong member! I slapped my forehead, just how long had I been staring on a halfway readied dumpling dough? Definitely for too long! So I added another couple of eggs to underline the flavor. Of course traditional dumplings are glued together by rice-starch and don´t contain a single egg, but I had thought that this always had been a mistake. Since dumplings were, by far, the most sold part of my menu I just had to do something right. I then started kneading in the large bowl. Luckily the exertion made any thoughts fly away and I could finish my preparations without spacing out much.

I had been told that Mako Chouw was attending his promotion ceremony today and I had the subtle gut feeling that I would get a lot of unusual customers. If somebody was promoted one had to invite the colleagues to something, and since Chouw wasn´t into drinking he would most likely invite to some kind of dinner. Even if he wasn´t spending much time in the barracks anymore it seemed that he still was his own man. He didn´t wear fancy clothes or owned a personal car, the boy was doing things right and I appreciated that. Of course nobody gave a fuck about my appreciation but that´s another topic. I then started packing my cart. I was wondering - Sokka hadn´t visited for almost a week, which was quite suspicious. Did she have a boyfriend again? I was marvelling, since the squirt had declared she was done with men almost a year ago. That roughly was around the time she got obsessed with the bloody golden fan! I sighed, hopefully she would move on from this obsession, I really wasn´t into my daughter getting beaten up on a daily basis. But what should I do – she was a grown woman. The moonshining destillery was working again, I could smell the alcohol, while the chimneys were smoking as if these guys were running some steam engine in there.

If they continued destilling that recklessly it would be only a short amount of time until their business was closed by the authorities, luckily that was no concern of mine. Aangs moonshine was quite exquisite though, a clear and pure barley product that had a subtle caramel taste, a sharp burning aftertaste as well as some kind of fruity note. Since I owned a noodle cart I of course did not sell hard liquor, but I had bought a little cask for myself. If one aged this stuff properly it would become quite the thing over the next twenty years. Sadly most moonshiners lacked the patience for doing so and that was the reason why everybody trash talked the moonshine´s quality! I then pedaled towards the usual business location and had to keep myself from dozing of in the traffic jam. Luckily the whole route had been ingrained into my body. Lao hadn´t set up his stall today, which was quite unusual. Maybe he was ill? If I had known where he lived I would´ve thought about paying him a visit after work, but actually I was happy I could excuse myself from this duty. The first customers arrived at once, cops like usual. „So Chouw started his office last week?" I asked the officers, who were some of my regulars. They wore strange, curly hair and matching frogcoats. „Y..Yeah." one of them responded while looking quite displeased. I had to stifle a smile.

I´d never known that these guys disliked Chouw. Well, they weren´t the brightest stars under the heavens, which was true for most cops. „Uppity bastard. Even swayed the Chief." the shorter one of them grumbled. „That asshole didn´t even say thank you to US..and WE showed him the ropes ya know Mr. Lee." the guy moped while munching his dumplings. „That´s the thanks for all the hard work we invested in this hopeless musclehead!" he sighed. I couldn´t imagine Chouw being the pupil of these guys.

„I feel you – that´s how children are. Ungrateful and cruel." I piped along the lines of most old people. I was astonished that these guys actually bought my act. They were close to getting all teary. „Yeah – back in our youth people knew what decency was, right pal." the taller officer lamented. I crooked a brow. The older man nodded in consent. „So that would make twelve shim and five." I responded. „Twelve shim! Come on Mr. Lee, we´re regulars!" „Yeah – you´ve gotta cut old served cops a bit of slag!" they started whimpering. I sighed being quite annoyed. These farts did it every day – just how stubborn could people be? They should´ve already found out that I wasn´t giving random discounts – especially not towards people who blabbered shit! They hesitatingly paid their food, which consistet out of two extra large servings of spicy hippo cow dumplings. Then they started eating and slowly moved away from my cart. Most likely the ceremony was held right now. Only some elderly people and construction workers showed up and ordered the cheap day´s special. The cops that usually had their lunchtime right now weren´t present. The office workers would have lunchtime soon enough and so I prepared myself for the daily assault that made the majority of my earnings.

I fired up all woks and began frying noodles, while steaming dumplings. And Indeed they came in chatting droves, like every day. The only one who wasn´t busy was the flameo noodle cart owner who stopped visiting this spot more and more. Quality food still mattered to most people, they just were becoming too lazy to make it themselves! I served three cups of roasted eelhound liver, spring onion dumplings and wondered how a single man wanted to eat all of this as Ping arrived. Of course Horichi, as he had titled his colleague and lover, was accompanying him. What exactly Horishima saw in the, at least, twentyfive years older man was something I couldn´t comprehend. Ping wasn´t a conservative but still he was OLD – just like me myself! She seemed quite happy when she was with him so I highly doubted this was about getting a good pension atop of the own payroll. They really had to be careful, fraternisation laws forbade such relationships but of course Ping loved playing with fire. „The usual?" I asked the two of them.

„Aye Lee. But make it a big serving – I´m starving!" Ping complained while holding his stomach in quite obvious way. Horishima rolled her eyes. „You´ve eaten two steamed buns while checking the reports. That´s more than my breakfast!" she added while wrinkling her brows at the slight outlines of a belly that showed through Pings uniform. I grinned a crooked grin. „As you wish Ping – I don´t feel like seeing your naked self, so dig in!" I just filled a large wooden bowl with the days special. Ping grumbled something inaudible. Today I was serving an „eight vegetable soup", which is a cheap meal from the lower rings. „And, what´ll you eat Horishi? A little cute ingwer bun?" Ping teased. Horishima wrinkled her nose, her armor was creaking and looked quite dusty. „No – I´ll have some dumplings. But please make it a small serving." she smiled at me. I just grabbed some of the dumplings out of the steamer. Since she hadn´t ordered a specific filling I would give her a colorful mix. Interestingly people liked my random dumpling mixes, most likely because nobody else was selling something like that. I actually was thinking about including some quite bad tasting dumplings, for example honeyed chickenpig with plumato – lychee paste. The lone thought made my skin crawl. Horishima helped herself to some chili paste and started eating. Her fingers gracefully gripped the dumplings and dipped them into the red paste. It was quite nice to watch her, whereas Ping was slurping and munching like some degenerate. I wasn´t some guy with prisitine table manners like TenTen but I neither was a mannerless sloth like Ping! „And, something´s up?" I asked Ping, who just shrugged and subtly shook his head. I wiped my nose, while still feeling sweaty in the heat of a passing summer. Of course there was nothing new concerning Lin. She was missing for more than a month and we all knew what that meant! I still asked Ping day after day and I wasn´t sure if it was annoying him or not. Of course there also was the danger of a revolution in the earthern nations that loomed somewhere behind the horizon, but I had to admit that I didn´t waste much thoughts on that topic. I´ve always been a man who took care of his people – I wasn´t like my father who drew a circle around himself that spanned nations. I wouldn´t have mingled in this stuff at all if these squirreltoad fuckwads hadn´t decided to endanger my squirt and kill my brother.

I knew what I could and what I couldn´t – making huge descisions definitely belonged to the latter cathegory! These whole hide and seek games about information weren´t something I understood properly, I had to leave them to Tenzin and maybe Miss Sato or Korra. The girl had delivered quite the speeches in the favor of democracy and now had taken off towards the earthern nations. I just caught some glimpses through the conversations my customers were having, since I neither had the money for a radio, nor the time for reading newspapers. „Nah – nothing new Lee. I mean..." Ping trailed off, he obviously had to control his urge to call me a sentimental, stubborn idiot. I appreciated that since I knew quite well how childish I was behaving. But I HAD to behave like that until somebody presented me a believable story about Lins fate, it was my duty as a friend. „Come on Sir, there are a lot of happenings that might be quite interesting for Mr. Lee." Horishima responded, she was a well organized and professional woman who hated unnecessary risks. So she didn´t call Ping by his first name and showed him the respect his position demanded. She also didn´t call me by my first name but used honorifics.

„So? Your ramen is coming up right now!" I stated while tending to an elderly ladies order. „For example it seems that the lead bit murder cases are finally solved." she responded with a wry smile. Indeed there had been no new murders after the Buffalo flat massacre. „Inspector Chouw also has found some new trails that connect a certain businessman directly with illegal weapon manufacturing." she responded. That were important news. My eyes bulged. „Does that mean he will be arrested?" I asked doubtfully. Ping snorted „Come on Lee – he´s a Ling!" I nooded. My pal was right. You didn´t arrest a Ling, no matter what he did! His clan was just too damn powerful! „So Chouw has worked his butt of for nothing. Touché." I quipped while clapping his hands. „Not necessarily, since the proof is currently under way towards the earthern unions parlament, where it shall be discussed." Horishima almost wispered. Luckily nobody else was standing close at the moment. I scratched my head.

I highly doubted that this changed anything. This parlament didn´t have much real power as it seemed. For fucks sake, these dudes couldn´t even keep their own provinces in check, so how were they supposed to take care of the Ling´s provinces on the wide plains? The plains of Chu da were one of the granaries of the Kingdoms and could not easily be replaced, which had made it´s nobles an extremely arrogant bunch. „Don´t think that matters for a shim, this whole new government is a farce if you ask me. I guess we´ve gotta found some sort of own military – enlarge the forces, things like than." I sighed having no idea if that was even possible. „Still as positive as a drunken crane-fish." Ping responded annoyed. „Well – at least life doesn´t disappoint me on a daily basis." I snarked back, I really wasn´t in a good mood.

„Well Captain Hungshu, we should be on our way. Duty calls anyways!" Hiroshima responded. She obviously didn´t like my abrasiveness. Not that I gave much about it, I too had a business to continue. Ping looked after her and she stopped after a few strides, just to continue with new found vigor and a slight tilt of her head. My old friend sighed. „Well um...I´ve gotta go Lee...ya know – women!" he stuttered blushing slightly and followed his love. I snorted, Ping being pussywhipped was as funny as Ping doing anything!

I continued prepairing dumplings, since some schoolkids were arriving for lunch. I was wondering if I should save up money for getting myself a delivery van. It should be quite easy to make a street kitchen out of it, since the cart was slowly getting too small for carrying the supplies I needed to pass an eight hour shift. Most streetkitchen had the same problems, which usually led to resupply rides in the early afternoon, but since I hadn´t reserved this spot at the republics trade office – I wouldn´t get it again if I went off for supply rides. I simply hadn´t the money to register myself as a trader, like most people in the business. I was handing out dumplings and noodles to some of my little custormers as I heard the flapping sound of shoes on the cobblestones. It was quite unusually that somebody ran around frantically in front of the police headquarters and so I turned my head to find out what was going on. I had to wipe my eyes again.

A woman was tumbling straight towards my car in a forced and quite wobbly seeming jog. The lady wore black pants and a loosely cut top, which both weren´t well suited for running. Her sandy hair was fixed in two characteristic buns and even if her head looked as if she tried to imitate a ripe plumato I recognized Lau Mi. The womans arms flailed around as if she wanted to tell me something very important. I complete missed the meaning behind the unfathomable gestures. She almost tripped and fell straight to her face. The kids also were staring at her. „What-the hell. That woman´s totally bonkers!" a nosy schollboy mocked. His comrades eyed him with some kind of pride, wasn´t their pal confident enough to state that an adult behaved stupid! „Yeah – look her tits are almost falling out of that thing!" another boy added blushing, a girl shortly afterwards tugged at his hair. „You´re my husband ShiShi! Youre a traitor who stares at other women!" she squeaked indignated and tugged the boys hair again.

„HEY! Take care of my bowls!" I snarked and the children snapped back into attention, sadly the poor ShiShi still dropped the bowl. Now some ramen were staining the stones in front of my cart – disgusting! Lau Mi tumbled into my cart and tried to steady herself on it. She almost touched the iron plates of the oven. „Ouch." she shook her slightly burned fingers which lead to a giggling crowd of students. „Hey – um...what´s the matter? Something bad happened?" I asked her concerned. Lau mi was panting heavily while he tattooed skin was glazed in sweat. She tried to utter some words but wasn´t able to. „Slow down. As for the customers – it seems the stall´s closed." I responded loudly while continuing to stirr the noodles that were already in the wok. I was seeking for one of my more trustworthy colleagues just in case I had to leave my cart for something urgent. I couldn´t imagine Lau Mi as somebody who started a new hobby like running and took it to such extremens, so she must have had a reason to force herself to such lengths. Finally she could control her breath.

„Come – come with me - at once! Lin´s -running away – otherwise..." she managed to gasp out between labored breaths. I glared at her. Was this woman kidding me? „You´re fuckin with me or what?" I was close to yelling and furiously slammed the hippocow noodles into the childs foodbox. The little girl almost dropped the box out of fright. I sighed. „I´m not angry at you little lady – today´s on the house." I responded in a forced, gentle tone. Then I whipped my head around again. „No – no I´m not – she´s in – my shop. Wants – piercings – silvery ones!" Lau Mi gasped and shook her head. „Almost didn´t - recognize – her. Just-the – the voice." she looked at me with an amost pleading face. Was Lau Mi serious? Was Lin really – alive? The blood was rushing through my head and it felt as if the world was spinning around me while the heart in my chest thudded. „Ughh." I had to steady myself by cluthing the handlebar with both hands. „Lee – you´re ok?" the tattoo artist hurried around the cart and touched my upper arm. „Yeah - yeah I´m fine." I responded while feeling anything besides fine. I shook my head, which cleared itself even though I still felt like wretching. „Where is she?" I asked her while almost riding off without packing my bike up. „Lee – you must, fasten the woks!" Lau Mi responded while firmly planting her hand on her thighs. I indeed had to do this if I didn´t want to hurt passerbys.

I was working in a flurry as a stinging pain surged through my hand. „Fuck!" I growled as I saw a big blister forming in my palm almost instantaneously while the cast iron wok hit the ground hard. Hot oil was staining the cobblestones and parts of my robe. I shook my hand, which was pulsing like crazy. It also was swelling. „What´re you idiot doing!" Lau Mi responded upset. She just tucked the wok away while I sliced the blister open with one of my knives. It still hurt like hell and didn´t contribute to me staying levelheaded. „We have to bandage that. Do you have blister-ointment and some gaze?" Lau Mi asked while I didn´t listen at all. I just continued fastening the things even if my hand hurt like hell. „Yeah Yeah – We´ll talk later!" I grumbled quite impolite. I just wanted to go to the elderberry RIGHT NOW! I wanted to see Lin - if it was her. And if Lau Mi had played me there would be nothing in the world that stopped me from beating that woman to a pulp. I jumped onto the cart and wanted to ride off as the tattoo artist grabbed my collar with a surprising strenght.

„Stop! Not so fast - where´s the Elderberry?" She asked me in a tone a mother would use with her overzealous four year old. I had to DO something and so I pointed into the direction I wanted to go to. „Wrong!" Lau Mi pointed out with a frown. „Gods Lee – get it together, please. It´s not like she´s mistrusting me. I´ve said I´ve got to fetch the piercings from the harbor district." she explained. I gulped as I realized that it was quite possible that Lin didn´t want to see me anymore. Why hadn´t she visited me? I wasn´t on the squirreltoads radar, because if I had been I´d be a rotting corpse in my own dumpster for quite a while. I wasn´t a Councilman like Tenzin, or a rich merchant Like Miss Sato, I was just a guy who easily could disappear in a large city and that actually was better than any armor. Nobodies like me weren´t taken seriously for most of the time. Just a few people knew that I was an airbender and even less people would know that I was a well rounded martial artist. Finally drawing conclusions between the Buffalo Flat Massacre and me – that would require an hilarious amount of work. Actually I didn´t believe that Lin had changed her mind about me, Tenzin and the youngsters.

I believed she was terribly afraid to endanger people, since she was just a froq-squirrel crazy brickhead! When little Linny was convinced of something she hyped herself up into a fit and nobody besides TenTen had been able to talk her out of it. In everything related towards her job choice even my brother failed, though. The fact that she still was in town should be enough to make clear she wasn´t eager to leave her life behind, I tried to convince myself. „You´re going right and down to the Yellow River street and follow it till the Shu- square." The woman had seated herself on the frame of the bicycle. I wasn´t reacting at all. „Weren´t you the eager one?" Lau Mi asked and waved a hand in front of my face. „Yes." I responded suddenly back in the present. „So what were you saying?" I asked her with furrowed brows. The woman let out a frustrated growl, while balling a fist. „You´ve to ride down the Yellew River street and follow it till the second square to the left. The shu square!" she repeated and I started cycling, while she had seated herself behind me on the carrier. She held onto me tightly, since it wasn´t easy to prevent sliding off the card at the bumpy street and my quite faste riding bike. My eyes were zipping around since I had to avoid people, other carts and cars with a quite bad tractable vehicle.

The Yellow River street was bustling with laden farming cars, and delivery vans. In between many citizens were zigzagging around with their motorcycles, which in most cases were hopefully overburdened. The engines were roaring and a grey dustscreen was spreading over the street. I started coughing soon, since the exhaust fumes weren´t exactly healty. People were honking at me, or some other cyclist who had to go down the road, crossing the yellow River street at the current hour was close to suicide, but nevertheless some idiotic teenagers tried it. I almost rammed a wiry, red haired boy in a greenish school uniform who darted across the street without looking right or left. „The fuck – you bloody idiot!" I yelled, while Lau Mi dug her fingers in my robes painfully. Obviously she was quite afraid because she had stopped talking after we reached the Yellow river street. Since I now could actually DO something I wasn´t out of my head anymore and hence didn´t need her instructions anymore.

I would cross the Shu square, which was quite easy since it wasn´t a market-day there. I would enter the badgermole road, cycle till I reached the President Raiko Lane and follow it till I could see the massive building of the faculty of economy. The faculty of economy, singular in the world, taught students how to do business and was the first private financed university of the world. She had been founded a few years ago by the Republic trade assiciation and had such shitloads of money that their students didn´t need to pay any fees. The Alumni took care of everything since most of them were quite successful businessmen nowadays. And then I had to squeeze the cart through a small alley to I arrive quite close to the elderberry. I barely managed to dodge a honking delivery van. „Get the fuck away from the street moron!" the driver yelled at me.

While I almost was torn from the bike through the drag induced by the huge vehicles speed. Lau Mi yelped in sheer terror. „Urhg." now her nails did hurt. I started coughing and my legs almost stopped moving at the proper speed, but if they stopped we would be dead, just a few hundred paces! Finally the bicycle jumped over the pavement onto the Shu Square. „Thank the mother of faces!" Lau Mi exclaimed from the bottom of her heart. The artists voice was shaking but her grip finally loosened a bit. Also the air was getting slightly better since a slight breeze was reaching the bottom of republic city right now. The narrow alleyways and the high buildings made air circulation crappy in most parts of the „old Rep" which was quite the problem due to the numerous cars that made people cough.

„Thats done." I managed to get out between labored breaths. Of course the sweat was pouring down all over my body, my heart was beating quite fast but I wouldn´t make some kind of rest. I rode on. „Lee – you´re ok?" Lau Mi asked worried. Obviously the woman wasn´t used to people doing sports because I wasn´t panting that heavily. „Y-Yeah." I reponded. „You really sound bad. I - Í mean we´re not having sex right now – if – if you strain your body like that for so long you´ll faint!" she blabbered worried. „Ah shut up." I hissed and sped up even more. Fainting – that was hilarious! My head was pulsing loudly in the rhytm of my heartbeat and my sight was a bit fuzzy, but no way in hell I was fainting! We had crossed the square while people started staring at the strangely laden noodlecart, then we entered the badgermole road, which luckily wasn´t as busy as the yellow river street which directly led towards the harbor district. The badgermoleroad led through the badger-mole flats which were slightly more prosperous than the buffalo or dragon flats. The most striking difference was in the inhabitants which usually were hard working people with closely knit communities. A lot of old people and housewives were passing by, chatting, carrying their buyings home or tending to the public gardens, which instead of pavements were adorning the unimpressive brickbuildings. Lau Mi tried to slow me down again and then resigned in pouting silence, while the noodlecart rolled on.

I suddenly turned a corner and the tattoo artist yelled „Stop – Stop Lee- Brake!" she yelled as I rode straight towards the narrow alley which admittedly wasn´t much broader than my cart. Still I was quite sure that we would fit through it! „Like a Shim in the pocket!" I tried to reassure her, but since I was out of breath my words slurred and she most likely didn´t understand anything at all. Suddenly I was pushed, the cart staggered a tad and I didn´t feel Lau Mi´s hands at my back anymore. Still it was too late to stop and I charged into the alleyway, hoping that no poor sap would end up under the frontwheels. Of course I wasn´t thinking that far ahead, I just wanted to reach the elderberry! I heard a gasp. „You´re crazy! THATS DANGEROUS!" Lau Mi yelled. Obviously she had jumped off the cart. I didn´t have the breath to respond to her. I passed the alley, and zigzaged around three following right cornes, once almost killing the raccoondog of an old lady. The woman threw a cursing fit but I simply ignored it. Of Course I passed the elderberry and just noticed I had passed the tattoo atelier after arriving on the end of the street. I simply left my noodle cart and staggered up the street. I had been racing down before. My legs were heavy and numb, so it was no wonder that I tripped and suddenly found myself staring at a cobble stone a few spans in front of my face.

Damn it! My burned palm was dirty now – I snorted annoyed, got back up and continued my run panting like a dying boarcupine. As I finally reached the Elderberry, the cutains were lowered and a sign showed that the shop was closed. I still grapped the doorknob and pushed open the door, which luckily wasn´t locked. As I entered my eyes searched for Lin, but I didn´t see her. Damnit! Should she have left because she got spooked by the artists long absence? Had I been too slow? The tattooing chair was empty, there wasn´t money left. Obviously Lin had become a bit of a pragmatic over the years. I dropped to my knees and stared on the floor as sweat dripped from my nose, the beard and the brows. „FUCK!" I growled, not minding the volume of my voice. I struck the floor with my palm but noticed that my body was too exhausted to vent my rage at the moment. I mostly was furious at myself for being so slow, but also I was angry at this little pest!

Was she purposefully running away from me? Just how good did that woman hide herself in the city – and for what motherfucking purpose? She was dead for fucks sake – as long as she didn´t try to reclaim her old name almost nobody would give a shit about her! Not even criminals, well cut out those with a personal vendetta...But the Dai Li most likely would ignore her, they had killed Chief Bei Fong – a woman named Lin wasn´t a person of interest. Well – if they DID investigate her they of course would use her to get Hungshu away from his seat, maybe they would bring Lin behind bars but that was really unlikely. Or had Lau Mi lied to me? But what reason should the woman have for something like that?

Spies didn´t lurk on streetcorners to investigate the working class on an individual level. I couldn´t imagine that since – nobody´s gotta spy for free, right? My hand was throbbing furiously. I just panted silently since I didn´t have the energy for yelling around at the moment. I wondered if Lau Mi had injured herself. Damn – I really had been a careless maniac! I shook my head. Now the tattoo artist would be quite pissed at me too, and Lin would be gone – it could be highly probable that she was leaving the city, or just had been swallowed up by the streets already. Piercings – that fitted to Lin like three piece suits fitted in my wardrobe! I grit my teeth – the lone thought hurt like a splinter driven through your body. I had seen what wrecks the streets made of women, and I didn´t want Lin to end up like my mother. By all heavens, I´d rather chop off my arm than let this happen but, big words didn´t change anything! I just sat there and stared as, suddenly, something thundered onto the floor.

Quite close to myself. Something hissed though the air and strapped my hands close to my body. I blinkingly stared at the torn off fragment of a power cable, which magically was tying me up like a piece of summer roll. I was too startled to protest, since the person who had overpowered me like that whinced and clutched her side. „Who send..." the woman hissed and stopped with a shocked expression settling on her face. I just stared disbelievingly at the, quite unusual looking, woman. Half her head was wrapped up in gaze and what was not covered by the white bindings was dominated by bird cutter rows, which were colored a vibrant green. Her arms were covered in terra bands, or ornaments that looked quite similar, even the backsides of her hands were coated with the complex patterns that somehow looked feminine. the visible skin was reddish and partially peeling off, there was a badgermolehead on her neck. She wore a puffy green trouser and a quite revealing top.

Still that face, it was somehow familiar... Of course it was – nobody besides little Linny was standing right in front of me! I almost fainted at that insight and barely noticed that the cable loosened itself and slid to the floor. Lin was gasping. „Lee – why´re you here?" she croaked in a muffled voice. My sight was blurring as unmanly tears stained my cheeks and I somehow felt triumphant. Lin wasn´t dead and like hell I would let her run off now I had found her. Finally my hard work was rewarded and the constant worries that had piled themselves up on my shoulders rumbled downwards. It felt like a mountain taken off my shoulders.

„Thank the spirits." I responded and rose with my arms spread open. Lin rose her hands in her typical, prude fake rejection. She turned her face away but that was no hindrance for me. I hugged her close and of course she didn´t struggle - like in her youth. She still was the same little brickhead I´ve gotten to know so many years ago. Instead she let out a muffled cry as she slumped into me. „Just what the hell´ve ya been doin Linny – I´ve worried meself sick! Never found ye, not in the vines, not n the dragon flats...nowhere – goddam bitch ya are!" I sniffed and hardened my embrace, while sounding a lot like the Ba Sing Se streetrat I had been. She smelled musky and earthy. It was strange to smell her like that, since Lin Bei Fong had always used some kind of perfume. I didn´t know why, but my friend just started hiccupping after that, she shivered like a tumbling leaf and didn´t stop.

I just held her like a child and waited for her to regain her composure. It had been too rough on her I guessed, I had no idea what she had been through, especially with her head wrapped in gaze like that. I had no idea which kind of shithead had done this to her but just thinking about the things that might be hidden below that white cloth made me angry. Slowly Lin stopped trembling but even after her hiccupping had subsided she had no intention to let go of me.

I was wondering if my doings were appropriate though - Lin was quite stingy about body contact. That also had changed over the decades. I slowly lowered the hand that had been resting on her lower back and tried drawing it away. The only result was her nose embedding itself even firmer in my shoulder. That was unexpected and I felt quite close to blushing – the hell was going on with Lin? „You´re better?" I asked her in a quite voice. The question sounded rather hollow, even in my own ears. You weren´t getting better from a trip through hell like that! In knew this first hadn, for fucks sake! Lin sneezed right in my robes – yuck! „Yeah." she mumbled silently. „D-Don´t tell me you just sneezed in my robes?" I sounded quite disturbed. Lin let go af me at once, while blushing furiously. „W-Wel umm. I – I apologize." she stammered while a puffy eye stared onto the floor intensely. I then remembered that her mother also had the annoying habit to use her sleeves as a replacement for handkerchiefs - especially when she had been sick. „It´s ok." I managed a weak smile and patted her upper arm.

„You´re staying with me until we got you something better." I stated. Lins eye widened. „B-But Lee. That´s too dangerous! I´m a wanted woman. What if the Dai Li spies find us!" she yipped mortified. I just furrowed my brows. „Yeah – cuz they couldn´t kill me if they wanted Lin... If anyone knew I was involved in this shit I´d be dead in some gutter! And I´m quite lively over here! I´m not a figure of public interest like you were. We both know that this whole thing never was personal!" I rambled with a shivering voice. Lin crossed her arms. „We can´t be sure!" she responded heatedly. „A-And I don´t want anybody to riks their lives for me. I- I ….especially not you Lee!" she whimpered, which made my pulse spike even more. „So I should let you run away? To nowhere? No way in hell Lin – I´ll not let you be swallowed by the streets. Drugs aren´t a solution and no way in Hell I´ll let you become like my mother!" I growled while forcing her to lock eyes. Lin let out a silent, squaky sound. „We´re family and just because I couldn´t keep the promise I made to uncle Sokka..." my voice cracked quite suspiciously „There´s no way in hell you´ll not have my back – we´re family Lin!" I rambled on, while poking my indexfinger in her shoulder. „And if you stupid brickhead think you can overcome everything alone you´re wrong! Heavens, I´couldn´t deal with this shit alone either! My squirt and even TenTen helped me a lot. Kicking me back into shape and such... Talking bout things." I admitted flushing slightly.

It wasn´t easy to admit that I needed help for something, it never had been. „Please let me help – I can´t loose my last childhood friend like that Lin. Please!" I sounded quite pahetic and annoyingly a breathless Lau Mi entered the elderberry. Lin stared at the floor and blushed crimson. „My floor!" the artist stared at a torn up spot in her wooden floor. The concrete of the buildings foundation had resurfaced in a quite spectacular fashion and some splintered planks were scattered around the room, as I noticed just now. „Oh shit!" I stated while Lin shrunk in embarrassment „I -I´m sorry, I thought you´d ve sold me out." she admitted barely audible.

„I- I mean you´re just some friend of Zu Li´s and so I thought.." Lin trailed off stammering, while Lau Mi glared at the woman like a rabid fireferret. „You´ll FIX this! You´ll not leave until it´s fixed and you´ll NOT use bending for it!" she commandet and even I snapped into attention as the furious artist climbed up her ladder. „Oh shit." I stated the obvious, while my legs still felt like noodles. I really wasn´t in the mood for woodworking, an Lin most likely would be as talented as as an elementary schooler. She had never done any kind of manual labor, she was a Bei Fong after all!

Authors note: AAAANNND fluffshit. Hopefully this gets some reviews. Sorry for the correction but there just were too many mistakes.


	28. giveaway day

**Take aways**

Damn it! I stared at the torn-up floor. Lin´s cheeks still flared crimson and the angered artist started cranking up her gramophone. "You just HAD to ruin the floor." I growled. I was annoyed, my hand hurt as if on fire, I was exhausted and furthermore I had to fix this mess since Lin most likely didn´t even know how to cut boards. Lin flinched under my accusation and started to justify herself in a furious fit. "I-I didn´t do this on purpose! You were the one who barged into the shop like some Dai Li agent!" she rambled, obviously stressed out. "SHUT UP!" Lau Mi yelled while suddenly Jazz music shook the whole building. The volume was so high that I was waiting for the angered neighbours to storm into the building. How my daughter could like this kind of music was beyond my understanding. The whole song sounded as if a bunch of drunken schoolboys was playing randomly distributed instruments, while the singer definitely sounded as if his balls were slowly crushed. Lin however continued talking. I barely heard her over the gramophone. "Lau Mi just went to fetch the piercings – she said. You know that I was short of running off anyways? I´m – I´m just not used to be on the wrong side of law Lee! And then you stomp in there and start punching the floor. Every cop stomps the floor if some fugitive has to be in the house!" she was waving her hands around wildly. I blinked. Lin was shivering in a mixture of shame and fear I guessed. "Just why the fuck didn´t she tell me she was going to fetch you." Lin protested.

I snorted "Yeah, since you definitely would have accompanied her to my noodle cart!" I snapped back. "Gods – do you even know how worried I was – we all were!" I felt a lump in my throat. I had to tell Lin that her mother was in town again. It was the right thing to do, even if I would have loved to simply ignore it. Lin definitely would demand that I accompanied her to airtemple island. But I couldn´t, not after the promise I broke. It was dishonorable and even if I actually wanted to RUN to airtemple island I shouldn´t! a man should behave dignified. I didn´t feel ready to apologize like I had to – I really had hurt the whole Bei Fong Family and the Chief at most. You couldn´t be forgiven for something so easily, I would not LET myself be forgiven so easily! Lin still was blabbering something about Dai Lis, standard undercover tactics and other things I didn´t follow. She finally seemed to notice that I was far from cheerful. Lin went into a bending stance and moved through "earth flowing like water" to smoothen the dented congcrete. The grinding of the artificial stone luckily was mostly subdued by the howling of an ex- earthking! He movements were much more refined than in the past. She left behind a smooth surface that could have been mistaken for poured concrete. She then eyed the splintered wooden boards, picking up two pieces of the oiled bamali wood. "Could you help me pick them up`?" Lin asked in a snappy tone that strongly reminded me of her mother. Most likely that was what made the switchs in my head flip. "NO – Im NOT GOING TO PICK THIS SHIT UP!" I yelled even louder than the bloody music. Still no neighbors had arrived and even if that had been the case I would not have bothered for a shim.

"I´ve been running through the shittiest nooks and crannies of the bloody city to find you. Every gods damned night! For more than a motherfucking month, and then – when I finally manage to find you I´ve to race through half the city like some crazed koalasheep fucking retard!My gods damned palm looks like a fucking slice of raw bacon and I´m so done for I can barely stand!" my voice was toppling while I suppressed the uncontrolled twitching of my muscles by pure willpower. I was panting, while sweat had shot into my pores. "And now I´ve got to run through this whole township to find some dude selling crane-berry oil and bamali planks because you had to punch holes into the floor! Because otherwise Bumis ex-girlfriend will be EVEN MORE PISSED AT ME THAN SHE ALREADY IS! And you´ve got the bloody nerve to boss me around? Yeah? You little…" I barely could stop myself from calling her an arrogant, tightassed uppity bitch – something she would not have forgiven me. Instead of rambling back Lin blinked and wiped her eyes while genuine worry settled on her face. She grabbed my forearms and turned my palms up. "Gods dammit Lin, ya really needn´t…." I fumed. As if I couldn´t take care of my own burns. Furthermore Lin wouldn´t have gaze, wood alcohol and stuff on herself. "Yeah I know you´re a big boy." Lin seemed slightly humored, which startled me.

She looked so disappointed that my shoulders slumped and I seated myself in the tattoo chair like she wanted. She then went off to skipt through the disorderly shelves of the studio. "Lin – you can´t start rummaging in other people´s belongings!" I tried to scold her but she wasn´t to be stopped. After a short wile she triumphantly returned with a small leather bag that contained a watery iodine solution, gaze and even heavenly firelily salve. Of course the highly effective ointment doesn´t contain a shred of firelily but more the twenty herbs and grasses from all over the world. The stuff really works miracles if you have burned yourself. I wondered why Lau Mi had such a large pot of it. She wasn´t a blacksmith or welder! "Why didn´t you stupid idiot tell me earlier? Gods Lee – you´re worse than my mother!" she rambled. Lin wetted a tissue with the iodine solution and started cleaning the wound. Without a doubt I let out some quite unmanly sounds as the disinfectant burned all over my hand. Luckily the music was so loud. When the cruel Miss Bei Fong finally was satisfied with the state of my palm she applied the ointment, which led to the heavy pulsing dulling into a barely present pain. I even was able to feel Lin´s fingers, why the hell was she applying the ointment – I could do that myself! Still it felt nice to be cared for and most likely that was the reason why I didn´t tried to stop her. She then wrapped the hand up in gaze and finished with a perfectly symmetric ribbon on the backhand.

"So – was that soo bad?" she rolled her eyes. I gulped down any words of protest because that just would have proven her right about my juvenile behavior. "Thank you." I responded and actually meant it. I still would have loved to stay into the chair for at least another hour, but I just noticed that my noodle cart was still on the roadside. My heart stopped for a second. If somebody had stolen it I would´ve serious problems. I couldn´t simply buy me another one! My very livelihood was on the line, which gave me quite the adrenaline boost. "Oh FUCK!" I exclaimed and darted out of the shop. I stormed down the street, not caring about the students who now idly were sitting in house entrances, sipping on drinks and prepairing hot-pots or grilled meat. I definitely didn´t belong in this neighbourhood of strangely dressed young people. My noodle cart luckily still was where it should be, still something was wrong. Three boys simply had started using it! A group of people slowly gathered around the noodle cart thieves who had the nerve to simply occupy my property! I propelled myself forward, the wind pushing at my back like an angered ostrich horse. "What in Koh´s name are you bastards doing with my noodle cart!" I roared at them, while slowing down with my sandals slappling on the cobblestones loudly. The cook, an accurate looking young man wearing the white and black robes of the jurisdictional faculty of the university Just continued frying MY noodles. The gathered onlookers, which to a quite big degree were young women wearing costumes, suits and revealing kimono´s of quite dazzling colors turned around. "What´s the matter pops?" the young man, who of course was half a head taller than me, chided. This arrogant little prick! His two comrades also seemed to be lazing youths that were slowly approaching the third decade of their life. I had been a successful business owner at their age! And now these slackers wanted to take over my noodle cart? No way in hell I´d let them get away with that! "As I said before, this is my noodle cart. I just parked it less than an hour ago and you imbeciles just start frying MY noodles? What kind of idiotic thieves are you? Not even bothering to move it somewhere else!" I rambled. The young man´s face turned from chiding to disturbed, to annoyed.

"Today´s giveaway mid-week. And we were her first, so fuck off or I´ll teach you a lesson of iron palm Kung Fu." He treathened me. The girls were chattering like a flock of birds. Iron Palm Kung fu… this kid was so full of openings it hurt my eyes. Without a doubt he hadn´t seen the inside of a dojo once! I snorted. "So that´s how you´re going to play this?" I quirked an eyebrow while swaggering unconsciously. "Hey Ten, you really shouldn´t beat up an old man." One of the girls tried to soothe the boy who also was huffing himself up. "I´m an earthbender – so I ´d not advice you to get violent. We´ve found the cart before you, so please leave." Tens friend intervened. The boy was wearing a short cropped military haircut and was clean shaven. How the gals could find something in these sissies – bah! It seemed that this chest huffing would not lead to anything. Of course these guys would not give in in front of a crowd, even if they definitely knew they were doing something illegal. I could not risk my noodlecart – if the student told the truth he could spike it, or throw cobblestones at the cart. "Gods." I shook my head in defeat. "I´m getting too old…for this." I stepped forward placing a forceful jab on the white and black robed pal. He tumbled backwards and I added a stomping bison, which toppled him and his bending friend on their backsides. The third guy was merely grazed by the two young men. I wished to have a club at my side right now. The girls were screaming in panic. Obviously they had not expected me to topple two lads half my age. "Get the police! Help – murder!" a blonde dyed girl in a way too short skirt yelled hysterically. The first kid already was back on his knees and punched me straight in the bowels.

It hurt but luckily I didn´t go down. The boy was yelling like an enraged mooselion. I couldn´t step back – my precious cart could get hurt otherwise. I just pulled him closed and thundered my elbow on his skull. It was a knocking sound and the kid was out for the count. I tumbled backwards as a cobblestone zipped past my head. The earthbender had gotten back on his feet. He didn´t look so composed anymore – what I saw in his eyes gave me the chills. A patient mans wrath is something terrible. I threw myself into the seven celestial steps and barely managed to avoid the splintering projectiles. The guy snarled and lunged himself at me, this time compessed earth followed the stones. I launched myself in the air with "landing the bison" - yeah that´s the proper name for the kata - and delivered a dropkick to the boys head. He just took the hit, while I hashly collided with the torn up street. The girls had given us some space. Some were dragging some other boys out of their hot-pots. I of course didn´t was a thought on that and barely evaded a forming earth spike as suddenly the boy yelled in pain and gripped his lower abdomen – he was squeezed together by the cable I had shared an intimate relationship earlier that day. Lin was constricting it much harsher than it was necessary.

"Thai Len! We´ll kill you bastards." Somebody yelled. "What the hell is going on here?" "Beat these crazy punks up!" I panted while resisting the urge to touch my belly. I looked at Lin who also looked like a rabid wolfbat. Since my noodle cart was out of immediate danger – if one ignored the noodles that would soon start blackening – I suddenly noticed the utter strangeness of the current situation. Two people close to their golden years had subdued some rowdy youngsters in the middle of a nonsense yelling group of students. Also the street was quite messed up. I breathed deeply and yelled. "Everybody done his part of chest huffing and hurling rocks? So – can I take my noodle cart with me now? If ya don´t believe me I´m not against making a slugfest outta this. And what the fuck is a bloody giveaway day!" I used my bending to boost my voice. I was a quite difficult technique since it was really easy to distort the words beyond recognition. The people suddenly turned silent. They stared at me quite wideeyed. "You can ask Lau Mi if you don´t believe us!" Lin radiated an authority I had never deemed her capable of. It the situation had not been so tense I would´ve laughed at myself. Of course my friend wasn´t the same as twenty years ago.

The people were staring at her, some girls were whispering and one of the students was staring at her longingly. "And finally – why are you using other peoples noodle-carts to cook? That´s plain stupid." She stated. The girl with the too short skirt raised a hand. "excuse me mrs. I – I guess that´s all a misunderstanding." She squeaked. The earthbender still was panting furiously and tried to break the cable – without any kind of success. Luckily he was too angry to notice that his legs were still free. Some of the students still were swaggering around and tried to save the hurt dignity, but obviously they didn´t dare to approach us after they had noticed that me and lin were quite proficient benders. Well – there was a reason why equalitariarism was still popular right? People who can kill you with some flicks of their hands ARE frightening! I still chose to have a guarding eye on him, while keeping my chi at the fingertips. "today is a giveaway day, like once every month." She explained in patting her hands together. "And on a giveaway day people of the neighbourhood set things on the roadside. Things they don´t need anymore and everybody can stop by and take them home." She explained. What? I´d never heard of such a strange custom.

"And since the noodle cart was standing on the roadside our friends assumed it doesn´t have an owner anymore." She fell silent and added gulping. "Finders keepers n such." "Yeah – since just anybody in this fancy university district owns a noodle cart in the first place." I grumbled. "Lee…" Lin sighed annoyed. the girl didn´t respond anything to that, while the student of the law was creeping back on his feet again. "Still that doesn´t give you the right to beat up people!" he protestend whincing, while his nose was bleeding profusely. I had to fight a smirk off my face. "Yeah – about that... Who wanted to teach me some iron palm Kung Fu?" I shot back enjoying my small triumph. "you´re really lucky I´m no big friend of the clanky guys – cause the only people who did something illegal – are YOU!" I stated pointing at the boy. "YOU occupied my noodlecard without permission. YOU threatened me first. The cops believe an old geezer like me! Finally I didn´t screw up the street so that people can see the rain sewage pipes!" I added. "You as a student of law should know that!" "Lee – stop behaving like a prick." Lin grumbled listless.

I seated myself on the cart. "Well – I just want to hang out at some boring geezer like place for now. " I responded. I highly doubted that I could get the bamali boards after the ruckus I raised here. "But the floor." Lin interjected, obviously she wouldn´t let that go so easily. I groaned internally. "Well I guess we´ll have to search for bamali boards in another township – god´s Lin, not even I´m that disrespectful." I wanted to roll my eyes. Some girls giggled at an unknown joke. "So – you aren´t from here?" a young man asked, some of the girls were picking up the battered noodle cart thieves. "Of course not – do I look like some rich guy? Your outfit costs twice the amount of my worldly belongings!" I responded honestly. My robes were cheaper than these peoples sashes, so how could they think I was their neighbor? Lin stared at me wideeyed, obviously she felt ashamed of me admitting my poverty so easily. The kids suddenly looked at quite interesting things – public bins for example. It seemed that the girl caressing the struggling the earthbenders cheek managed to calm the raging madman to some degree. At least he wasn´t grunting like a komodo rhino anymore.

Lin finally could let go of her bending stance, she just had to be tired. "Yeah – get off here you freaks." A brown haired girl responded. "We – don´t need criminal scum here!" she obviously was shocked about a bit of violence – these children of peace surely were something strange and beautiful. Two of her friends were pulling her away from us, obviously afraid that we might assault the girl for her words. The whole situation got more and more embarrassing, since a heavy silence settled and the people were anxious, I was no exception of that. "So you came here with a noodle cart to buy wooden planks you can buy anywhere since Bamali trees are used as agricultures all throughout the Republic? A woman who looks like either an artist or a triad chick and some middleaged dude straight out of the rural firenation…." The expensive clad youth responded. He had a quite characteristic face, a broad chiseled chin, determined bluish eyes and the long nose of the water tribes. He wasn´t very dark though and sported a quite beefy built for somebody of the upper classes.

Still he definitely was old money, with his expensive suit a faintly lingering inner ring accent, silken sashes and white jade bracelets on his wrists. How he could be wearing a suit at these temperatures was a miracle, also his expensive clothing looked quite used and dusted. "Well – um – yeah…that´s the short version." Lin admitted while shifting her feet uneasily. "Actually we´ve got to fix Lau Mi´s floor since um… I punched a hole in the foundation?" she trailed off making a quite funny face. The students stared at Lin in disbelief. "Why would somebody do this?" "That´s one crazy bitch." Some of the girls were snickering around. "Hey weird girl – how bout my place?" the gawking student from before uttered, while blushing over his own courage. I never knew that Lin´s eye could get that big! Well the boy wasn´t looking half bad, a bit scrawny, his eyes a tad uneven but otherwise he was looking fine.

Still it was impolite to discuss such things in the streets, but I also had been that impolite some decades ago. The boy approached her with a broad grin. Lin however was quite flustered. "Um – no – I´ll not visit your place for whatever you intend to do there!" she responded while stepping back from the boy who now was outright embarrassed. "Well – that´s life bro. girls are cruel!" one of his mates tried clapping his back. "You´re a beast Cap - RRAAAARRRRR." Lin´s face really was weird, her upper lip was twitching slightly while she frowned. The inner ring boy just shook his head about such idiocy. "See guys – these people want to fix Lau Mi´s floor, they can´t be too bad can they?" he responded while rubbing his hands, he was a tad nervous. They were calloused and sported a lot of little injuries one would expect from a craftsman. He seemed to hold some kind of authority around here. "So, I´d suggest we´re happy nobody got hurt and do what we usually do in middays." He suggested scratching his head.

He was a tall man, which naturally gave him some respect. The people were chattering. The three students were trying to disappear as silently as possible, still they had to take some snarky remarks. Other people however still were calling me and Lin bunch of violent bullies, or even worse things. I always wondered how persinstent people could be in hurling insults at people they themselves had nothing to do with. Still the mob dispersed itself as fast as it had been formed. Lin however grabbed my collar. "What the fuck have you been thinking Lee." She hissed silently. "That could´ve turned really ugly so what´s the big deal about some kids frying some of your noodles?" she asked. Had I tried to turn into my goodnatured collected Lau An, self my efforts were wasted instantaneously. "I – thinking! That noodle cart is EVERYTHING that stands between me becoming a hobo and Sokka getting a penniless old fart as an heirloom Lin!" I was dead serious. "I´m not some fancy pants rich guy who can afford to risk something like that. I´ve got to pay the terras – and bald Aang doesn´t take any excuses if I don´t deliver." I responded. Lin blinked in shock, obviously she had not expected something like that. "B-But you had a company sold for more than hundred-thousand-yuan Lee!" she squeaked. My face turned sour as I was reminded on one of the big losses of my life.

"Yeah – and I lost it because I thought it better Sokka didn´t sold herself out to this gods damned Harada fuckwad." I snarked a bit harsher than intended. Lin blinked and paused, she looked quite shocked and opened and closed her mouth like a koi fish. "Chrm… excuse me." the young man interrupted us before lin could start sputtering nonsense. "I´m not one to linger into other people´s businesses, but you said that you were searching for Bamali boards." I had to bite my lips, even a rebellious brat like him spoke so sophisticated it made me want to gag. "Yeah." I nodded, while the cogs started turning, maybe this guy was the rumoured couchmaker Lau Mi had been so enthusiastic about. "And you´d know where we can get em – since you´ve got some business in the furniture sector?" I asked. He smiled politely, his smile still was guarded even if he tried to lose the snobby touch of the inner rings. Lin scratched her nose. "Yes – I am the couchmaker as people around these blocks call me – not that I haven´t a honest name. Shian Bei Ling." He responded silently. He wasn´t proud of his name, and I at once understood the reason.

"Well – um – I´m not like some of my distant relatives." He apologized in a well-practiced way. I chuckled. "I highly doubt that the Lords of Chu da make couches for a living kid…" I quipped. Lin kicked against my shin, while frowning. "You may as well follow me – I was planning to have a little barbecue but I guess that my friends will have invited themselves in the meantime." He looked at the sun, which was tinting the streets into a bright gold. "We – really don´t want to cause inconveniences for you – if tomorrow…" Lin started babbling. Obviously she had lost quite a lot of self esteem with her titles, it hurt to see her like that but of course things like these were natural. I myself had grown up as a nobody, otherwise this whole squirreltoad shit would´ve dragged my selfesteem beyond the floor as well. My life hadn´t changed much, besides me loosing my little brother, but Lin had lost everything she had worked her butt of for! It was a miracle she was holding up that well. "Oh, no." he rose his hands.

"You´re not causing inconveniences at all. I´m a very social man as you might have noticed. My friends and I party in the workshop anyways, so I´m just doing what I planned on doing before all of this ruckus occurred." He responded in my direction. I could hear the hint of accusation in his voice. We followed him, the pal showed quite the large strides for a noble. "Quite uncommon to find a noble running a carpentry." I stated dryly. Lin´s frown deepened. "My friend is being impolite – of course you don´t need to tell us your story." She snapped in my direction. I smiled, teasing Lin still was fun. "There´s nothing grand to it as you may think. No drama, no murder and no forbidden love." The man responded with a boyish grin. "I´m the son of a lower ranking concubine of a lower ranking lord in a lower ranking branch of the ling clan. So there wasn´t a grand destiny set for me anyways, maybe I could´ve become a tax collector like my father, or joined the army as an officer but actually nobody did care what I did…." He paused. "My mother just wanted me to be happy and she stated that quite eloquently, even to my fathers wives. And I really wasn´t into fighting or doing paperwork, even as a little boy I´d carved on all the sticks I could lay my hands on. I even snuck out to watch the carpenters renovating my fathers mansion and when I turned sixteen I decided I wanted to be a craftsman." Lin interrupted. "But isn´t that horribly improper in the kingdoms?" she asked the obvious.

"It is and of course my father forbade me doing something so shameful. Instead he sent me off to republic city to study business sciences, which is quite popular amongst the lower nobles." He explained. Lin shrugged, obviously that was nothing new to her. "When I arrived here I rented the smallest room I could find and saved up money, while whining about the expensive life in Rep City. Also I worked parttime in the construction business, fixed furniture…. I didn´t do much of studying at all. After five years I had the money I needed for buying tools and then I finally started my own workshop, that it flourished like that still amazes me, but I´ll keep going." He summed of his story. The young man greeted a lot of people on his way through the township, people that eyed us quite skeptically. Most likely the news of the violent noodle car owner had already spread like a wildfire. Luckicly I was working on the other side of Yue bay! We arrived in fron of a shabby looking old hose, which sported new wooden windowframes and a simplisiticly built warehouse that had been attached to it instead of a garde. The heavy wooden Gates of the warehouse were swung open, so that one a single slim cart would be able to pass the street.

There was indeed a colorful gathering of the four nations, something that still was almost exclusive to this city. People were playing tsungi horns, flutes and drums in a relaxed tune. There was a whole hippo cow leg sizzling over a small bonfire. People had seated beer kegs on working benches. Hammers, drills and rasps were stashed into orderly seeming shelves. Couches, chairs and tables were filling the warehouse in differing stages of their birth. The chatting crowd didn´t notice our arrival at once. The people were of differing ages, of course much younger than Lin or me. The inner ring boy was one of the oldest guys present, he must be rather close to thirty. "Good evening you slackers! I was delivering some tables to the fancy socks in the hills, while you lazy asses snored in some lecture rooms." The man introduced himself. It was as if a switch had been flipped. "Eeh couchie." Some girls tackled the man into close hugs while, a dreadlock wearing dude placed a mug into his hand. It seemed this guys presence alone made the people more cheerful. We let him greet his friends, which seemed to take quite a wile . There were close to fifty people hanging out here – if this was a small barbecue I was a privateer. Lin felt quite displaced and looked as if she wanted to disappear into the tiniest hole she could find.

"Awesome hair – I really wouldn´t be brave enough to wear something like that." One of the clingy girls addressed Lin. She was maybe in her early twenties, slim and a tad bookish. Still she wore the wide trousers and slim tops that were typical for hard tribal chicks. She wasn´t inked, nor did she sport any kind of piercings or a martial haircut like Lin. Lin was started and thanked the girl stuttering. While the kid started talking to her like a waterfall. Poor lin was quite baffled, the student simply grabbed her upper arm and dragged her towards the improvised bar. "You´re new in town? I´d have heard about you. I mean it´s totally cool that you don´t give a fuck about people´s opinion, especially at your age." The student talked. "This are my friends Lei-Lei and Mai." She introduced two girls that were obviously fliriting with a group of guys. The "Couchie" was chatting with two slim watertribe guys that were looking quite ordinary. They did not really fit into the crowd, as did anybody besides the core of hart tribal people, which numbered around fifteen to twenty heads. The music however was much gentler. "So – here I am again." I looked for Lin and spotted her bandaged head quite easily. "It took a bit longer, but it seems your friend doesn´t mind." He stated the obvious. Lin was making strange faces, which humored the youngsters – I wanted to bet she would do anything I asked if I freed her from her current position, but sometimes Lee Bei Gao was a cruel man. "I´ll let the girl have her fun – she´s twenty at heart." I chuckled a bit too devious. "But about the wood." I changed the topic quite drastically.

The people did not try to approach me, most likely because I still was quite on edge. Also I was glancing on the street quite frequently – to make sure my cart still was there. "All right, please follow me – about how many boards are we talking, how long, width?" he asked. "About ten to twelve inches, since Lau Mi has an old, handmade flooring I guess we´re in for some surprises." I sighed annoyed. I really was not motivated to carve curves into the board profiles because some important carrier structures were installed beyond the floor. The man grinned. "That´s the pinnacle of woodworking." He was quite enthused about that. I for my part could live a perfectly content live without woodworks but of course I didn´t smack that into his face. We wiggled through the guests who did look at me strangely. Still they didn´t quip any annoying comments, after all I was with couchie. We exited the warehouse and entered the true treasury of any carpenter. Stacks of old, partially wheather worn looking, wood. Even if no signs indicated the purpose of the strongly differing boards and beams the young man walked around as if he already knew what he was searching for.

A decent noble, that certainly was a rarity. He indeed showed my a knee high stack of bamali planks that felt bone dry. He drew them out with nimble hands, the wood was light and rough. Also the boards were at least somewhat fitting for Lau Mi´s floor. Most likely I would have to make them smaller and smoothen the surface up with grinding paper and polish after the oiling. "I´d like to take six of them." I answered while I already tried to calculate the quite substantial price. My pockets weren´t as full as I would like them to be. "I guess that makes fifty five." The guy responded in the nonchalant manner just old money sported. Fifty five yuans, that was half a week of earnings, a surprisingly civil price. "Ok." I responded and we bowed as a sign of courtesy. "I´ll pay you from the cart, since I don´t have so much money in my pouch." I explained. "Also I´d need some lychee oil." I added. The necessary tools for changing the floor were present already. Luckily an old house keep had died in our street. He had had some obsession about tools and therefore I, and some other people, had been able to equip us with everything the ordinary man could need for a quite low price. "I´ve got about seven brands, so let´s check em up before you choose. " the man amazed me, he was really bubbly about his business. We entered a small shack, which looked really disorderly.

"My fiancee..." He apologized, while cringing internally. I shook my head, paints, laquers, oils, everything was stacked on top of each other in almost bizarre towerlike heaps. Still the young man didn´t search long before he presented three tin barrels in front of me. "That´s ember´s second pressing, Chu Da with wild hemp, ochre colored oil from the mountains of shije wuji." He introduced the oils. I had no idea if that was true, since oils were something that belonged into a car, or into a pan! "I´ll take this." I responded, praying that he wouldn´t ask me why I picked said oil. The young man frowned. "I guess that´s no good idea. If I remember correctly Lau Mi´s floorings never were brushed with bleached oil, if we than add the fact that the bamali here is much, much younger…" he cleared his troath. "Well – then you don´t need bamali at all and you can just take some boards you find somewhere." He responded brutally honest. "But if you don´t know about oils… wouldn´t it be better if you let a professional handle this?" I quirked an eyebrow. "Nono – I don´t mean myself, or my boys! We don´t do floorings, I couldn´t bear the bad quality we would produce." He responded like a true artisan.

"But I know some quite good addresses, guys who make reasonable prices." He trailed off while giving my robes a closer look. "That´s not an option – except you know some guys that would work a day for some noodles and a few yuans." I admitted openly. He shook his head. "No – craftsmen don´t drop from trees, the guys know what they´re worth." He admitted. So I carried the planks and the oil to the card and parted with half a weeks worth of earnings. "Thank you very much, it was a pleasure conducting business with you." The youth again bowed slightly. Obviously this formalisms had been ingrained into his very bones, or he had principles. "Likewise. I really didn´t expect you to be willing to help us out, not after the incident on the street." I admitted feeling quite sheepish. The noble laughed loudly. "that´s nothing. I´ve seen much crazier shit every day. We´re a township full of students, artists and party people, a red light district is directly round the block. And I admit that the people have quite quirky customs here. I myself was startled for more than two years." He admitted amicably.

"Well, I´ve got some people to entertain Mr. Lee." He waved casually and joined some of his pals, who already had quite redish looking noses. Lin had moved on to taking a drink in the meantime. Some other gals had seated themselves quite close to her. I closed in, obviously the girls made some comments directed in the horizontal direction, since Linny regained some color and the kids were talking with hushed voices. Well – as I turned around a Saw a huge, barechested guy posing behind me, who most likely was the topic of all of this. His bizeps easily had the size of my whole arm. "So Lin, we´ve got what we came for." I responded. "So I´d like to get this shit fixed since I´ve gotta work tomorrow." the lone thought was crazy – how should I get myself out of the futon tomorrow? Lin took another sip. It seemed she was a bit tipsy already. Without a doubt she hadn´t eaten properly. She had said she was broke right? "Yeah. Sorry girls, but Lee´s right. We´ve got to fix this floor. But – it was really nice to talk with you and I´ll definitely check out Joo-Dee´s. " lin tilted her head. "Did you know that there is a store selling used clothing Lee?" her voice was so adorably sweet that I had to fight laughter.

"Of course – such shops exist in Shangyang since people´s memory." I responded dryly. "Come on Lin, let the youngsters have some fun. And don´t think I´ll do all the work myself." I added since my burned hand was still trembling from the effort of carrying the boards. Lin rose and followed after waving the girls a goodbye. She seated herself on the cart. "I´m cycling you home." She responded and patted on the metal frame behind her. I seated myself while holdin the boards and the tin can filled with oil. Lin cycled slowly but sill I was almost thrown from my improvised seat. My friend was outright exhausted as we arrived in front of Lau Mi´s studio. Lin was quite thin, but nowhere near being short of starving. The gaze wrapped around her head obviously was not for decoration. Since I knew how sensitive Lin was about scars and injuries I decided to ask her in a more private setting. I carried the boards and oil into the room, the gramophone had been silenced in the meantime. "Lau Mi?" I yelled. The artist wasn´t answering, great – she still was annoyed. I looked at the mutilated floor, which would be some hours of hard work. I dropped the boards and the oil, no matter how much I liked the idea of fixing the floor and making up with Lau Mi I wouldn´t be able to do that today.

I was lucky if I managed to go home, my head was quite fuzzy and I just wanted to sleep. "I´ll come back tomorrow and repair the floor. Um… since I don´t have rasps and stuff on me." I fell silent. The artist still wasn´t answering and I wondered if she still was here. I didn´t want to risk climbing up the ladder and checking. Lin was too busy steadying herself in the doorframe, she was holding her head with the left hand. "I guess I can´t help you Lee – I´ve got some headache." She admitted grimly. I nodded, too tired to notice that Lin actually admitted weakness to me. I could count the occasions she did on my two hands – I wasn´t Yumi or Tenzin. "I´m not thinking about working till nightfall – geez I´m really some pathetic old man." I sighed "You´re such a gods damned pussy it´s indeed pathetic Lee! JUST DO IT for fucks sake! That I´ve to tell ya something so obvious!" Lau Mi rambled suddenly. Lin lost her balance and almost tumbled to the floor while I flinched and went into a boxing stance. Do it? I had already assured her that I would come back tomorrow hadn´t I? "You want your floor looking like some slum hut´s? Them I´m doing it now, if you don´t want that I´ll stop by tomorrow." I responded. Lau Mi just snorted and muttered something barely audible. "Yes – I´m sorry. I´ll help to repair this – you really don´t need to be so mad. I´m sorry for what I did and I´m sorry for misjudging you. You´re a friend of Lee´s , of course he´ll be here tomorrow." Lin pleaded. The artist suddenly appeared on the railing. She was wearing her bindings and a tiny loincloth. Lin squeaked. "Heavens." She stammered, while I had to fight a grin off my face. "Pfft – the floor." Lau Mir frowned looking quite seductive.

"I was angry but that´s water under the bridge by now." She waved her hand dismissively. "You´re such pish posh idiots." She shook her head and mumbled something while looking quite delighted. Artists! "Well – um…good night then. I´ll not be too early." I responded while Lau Mi let out a silent sigh. Obviously she had feared I would start sawing boards at dawn. "Good night – I´s afternoon." She shook her sandy hair. I still felt that I owed the artist big time, and since she was turning away I wanted to give something back. "Chrm… If, there´s anything I can do let me know – thank you very much." I bowed low while a squirreltoad was struggling in my throat. She stopped. "Of course…You´re an asshole Lee." The tattoo artist responded. She obviously was upset, for what reasons I didn´t know. Lin gulped, obviously she wanted to say something, but she wasn´t able to.

Then we left the shop and I seated myself on the bicycle seat, while Lin took her seat behind me. Since it already was already after the markets closing hours the streets weren´t as busy as before. Neither me nor Lin were in the mood for big talks. When we arrived close to my neighborhood She breathed deeply. "You´re living like this?" Lin obviously was shocked. I smirked, while a tad of melancholy lingered in my chest. I had known the benefit of a comfy flat in a good neighborhood, but being bitter about things never helped anybody. The terra boys were hanging out at the streetcorner, my pulse sped up as I Noticed how Lins hands dug themselves into my shoulders with an iron grip. Now her disguise would be tested for the first time. "Evenin boys." I greeted the bulky teenagers. The soldiers were wearing daggers that had been sloppily tugged into their broad sashes. They noticed Lin at once. Some of the boys whitled. "Wheey getting yerself laid huh? Thought I´d never witness the day pious fucker." One of the boys responded. I guess that was one of the little drunkards I had beaten up, or maybe Sokka had punched out his lights. "Eh how much sweetie." another one of the guys teased. Lin showed him her middle finger. "Shut the fuck up lil bitch, or I´ll tear your guts out and shove em down yer lil virgin throath!" she barked furious, while I slowed down the noodle cart in front of my garage. I slid down from the bike, feeling like walking over to the little thugs and roughing them up good. I still was senisitive if people called women whores and bitches, especially when said women were my friends. But my rational self told me that it was quite unwise to anger bald Aang in my current position.

So I tugged in my cart and started unbacking my cooking equipment. I had quite a lot of stuff to clean, like every day. "What are you doing Lee? I thought you´re done for." She responded and hit the mark. "Of course, but I´ve got to clean up the equipment – it´s daily routine." I explained while carrying the woks and left overs in an admirably tall tower of stacked iron and clay pots. "Whoa." Lin was impressed that I managed to walk upstairs. She followed me into the house, and wrinkled her nose. "Urgh – why the fuck do these – these animals piss in their own staircase!" she growled. Lin was quite orderly, despite being raised by her mother and uncle Sokka. We walked upstairs and slowly the sharp stink of old urine dissipated until I reached my flats. I lowered thestuff I was carrying and unlocked the door. I than carried the dishes towards my washing basin, which was the lower quarter of an old petrol cask. I filled it with water and chopped some soap into it. "You´re living between soy sauce pots, dried meat and spring-onions?" Lin asked skeptically while searching for a futon and some kind of furniture. While I started scrubbing the woks. "That´s just working space, I´m living next door." I answered. "Oh – so you´ve got a spare futon?" she asked silently. I snorted. "you´re not sleeping between sauce pots. And you´ll have your own futon – of course." I shook my head. I didn´t want Lin to feel like a nuisance, dammit! Lin fetched herself a cleaning cloth and assisted me in my work. I had to talk about some quite emotional things, which didn´t motivate me at all. I was tired and I couldn´t use my right hand properly. "I guess we´re done for tonight." I responded, noticing that the sun had to be down already. So we walked across the floor and I opened my flat, which was secured by two locks. "You know that every professional burglar team has an earthbender, to you Lee?" Lin stated dryly. I gulped, even if I had expected that it sent an uncomfortable feeling of being exposed down my spine. I shrugged. "Does this look like the kind of hood professional burglars would operate in?`" I asked Lin while cocking my head. She had to chuckle at this herself. Then I opened the door and she entered. "Whoa." Her eyes scanned the room which most likely was smaller than her nursery. "I know it´s not what you´re used to." I pointed at the missing rooftiles, which replaced the non existant windows. "But I can´t afford anything better, since I´ve to safe up some money for…" I trailed off. Lin would most likely laugh at me if I told her about my dowry plans. "It´s much better than where I slept for the last month." Lin admitted feeling ashamed. "I couldn´t even repay these good people properly." She sighed in resignation. I just patted her shoulder, knowing this feeling quite well. I also hadn´t repayed people properly, which was the issue of the evening. "Aber that." My voice sounded quite gruff. I felt guilty and vulnerable. "Your mom´s back in town." I blurted. Lin froze in awe. "What?" she exclaimed quite shocked. "One of TenTens lackeys told me that she was back and – is ill." I responded while intensely staring at the floor. Lin was silent. "S-So how´s she. Did – did she come for me?" she croaked, obviously short of opening some floodgates. I just stood there. "Lee? What´s happened." She aked, there was iron in her voice. I had feared that it would become like this and Lin would insist on knowing what had happened. "I don´t know. I wasn´t there." I responded in a harsh voice.

Lin paused. "don´t play me for dumb Lee." She gripped my collar and tilted my head up forcefully, I still tried to avoid eye contact. "I know that you´re very close to my mother – maybe even closer than her own bloody daughters ever were!" there was some suppressed jealousy in her voice. It stung like a knife plunged through my chest but I kept my composure. "I can´t Lin – if I want to look in the mirror I can´t visit your mother." I mumbled, she somehow still understood my words. "And why would that be? You´re the only one who NEVER disappointed her. You didn´t arrest your own sister, or fucked up the stand in drinking!" she responded angered. I laughed a barking laugh. "no – I just broke a sun oath!" I was turning quite cynical – what Lin was talking about wasn´t even close to disappointing Toph Bei Fong, she should know that. Her sister might have disappointed her mother, but I wasn´t even sure about that! "You did what?" lin´s voice was silent, obviously she had thought of me as an epitome of integrity – utter bullshit!

I fought back a stinging behind my eyes and cleared my throath. "When uncle Sokka died, I – made a promise to chrm…" I trailed off while flushing brightly. "To keep your family together but when shit got real I just – just worked my goddamn job and didn´t do a thing a good brother would´ve done." I responded furious. "And your mom heard every word of my promise.." I just turned and wanted to drink myself silly. Lin was baffled, or horrified – she didn´t respond to me and so I walked towards worn looking cupboard, opened a door and grabbed myself a bottle of Aangs moonshine. I took a deep gulp of the burning liquid, that poured down my throath like a manifestation of self-hatred. Lin gripped the bottle and held it away from my mouth. "You´re a stubborn idiot Lee." Lin responded. "You guys did try – you invited us for dinner, you talked with my mother but we didn´t listen." She hugged herself. "My mother is an old woman Lee, I was shocked to see how old she is and if she´s ill we don´t know how many years she has left." There was an uncomfortable silence.

Toph Bei Fong was close to being ninety years old, of course she had not much time left, that was the way things went! And I wanted to see her, I really wanted. "Do you want to deny you and her a reunion because you think you didn´t try hard enough?" I was quite close to sniffling right now, my mouth twitching in strange gimaces. "I- don´t but – I´ve – I´ve not deserved.." Lin knocked against my head. Her knuckles stung quite prominently. "That´s not just about you Lee – my mother definitely wallows in the some idiotic self pity and moral swamp because keeping the family together would´ve been HER job in the first place!" Lin furrowed her brow. He gaze softened. "Also – I – well… what you did in the last month isn´t something just anybody would do!" she smiled and I finally let go of the moonshine bottle. I hugged her close and lin whinced in pain. I was very grateful she had forgiven me. Failing people – I really was afraid of that. "Oww." She protested and I let go with a sheepish grin. There was the second topic I had tried to avoid until now.

Maybe it would be better to delay it for some days, since too much emotions at once did ruin any relationship. "Sorry Lin, I´m not used to hugging a lady." I stated and ignored my rumbling stomach. "Are you hungry?" she nodded while walking around in my flat. The general nosiness of the Bei Fongs was something that silently irked me. I decided to make myself useful and whip up something for dinner, since I hadn´t eaten anything for quite some hours. Eating my own leftovers was the typical evening routine and so I started firing up the oven with pressed paper brickets. The paper press really was one of the greatest inventions of the past decade since it enabled people to fuel stoves without buying coal. That was true at least for republic city, in which paper was a commodity. That whole forests were chopped down to provide the supply for the largely unnecessary newspapers this city offered at hilariously low prices was something I didn´t want to think about. "You´re still not owning a suit?" Lin asked my astonished. Suits, even the word did make my fashionsense shiver. "No and I won´t put my legs into these – things!" trousers were even more terrifying than suits! Ling laughed a hearty laugh – then I realized that she had just looked into my not present wardrobe! "You also should be able to see the second futon I own. Since Sokka didn´t visit over night for quite some time it shouldn´t smell anymore. So you could set it up somewhere and make yourself comfy." I responded determined. Luckily Lin did heed my advice and stopped commenting my clothes. Not even Yumi had mingled in my clothes and like hell would I let any other woman do something like that! Lin had placed her on the other side of the room. Then I had prepared the dumplings and the fish sauce. It was quite unusual to have a guest for dinner and so I prepared the dumplings not very appealing. Lin didn´t mind since she was even hungrier than me and wolved everything down in an astonishing speed. She even burped loudly after finishing the last bete and released a content sigh. "that was delicious." She said while her head sagged forward. I also felt quite sleepy, so I just nodded. She most have eaten quite badly if warmed vegetable dumplings were something delicious. But since my friend wasn´t in a very talkactive mood I refrained from further inquiries and went to bed, where I slept like a stone – despite Lin´s loud snoring.


	29. The Demon of Sato Manison

**The Demon of Sato Manison**

Ma Ko Chouw rose from his bed and downed the glass of water resting on his nightstand. It was stale like the water he drank for the first fifteen years of his life. He still was sleeping in one of Asami´s guest rooms because that was necessary. His girlfriend was a late worker, who disturbed his sleep quite frequently, even if he was in another room. Furthermore, he never had experienced the luxury of an own room before. Even if he was used to visiting Asami, permanently living in Sato Manison was a new and strange experience. It was astonishing to see all this velvet, gold, marble and other terribly expensive materials around him, arranged and shaped by the hands of artisans. Having servants also felt weird and kind of wrong. He had slept well this

night, his mutilated arm radiating a pleasant, tingling numbness. So the weather wouldn´t change and today would be another sunny and dry day of early autumn. The young man rose looking at hand painted tapestries that depicted the historic battle of Terayama in a stylized traditional style. Why a bloody scenery like this adorned his bedroom in the first place was quite unclear. But since this guest bedroom was the one closest to Asami´s bedroom he had chosen it.

He smiled when he thought of the milky white skin and the rounded hips his lover most likely still curled up into a large variety of sheets. It was astonishing to see how much better Asami was feeling, somehow Tenzin had brought her steely attitude back to life. Still they both had nightmares about the invasion, about the equalists, or the buffalo flats but these feelings weren´t guiding their lives anymore. He guessed Korra finally had gotten over her trauma´s too. His little brother had invited him to a "grand celebration" which was to be held in about three weeks. Interestingly Bo Lin had told him nothing about the reason for the fancy party he was going to throw. He smirked, Bo´s little surprise was already ruined since Kya had told people about his wife´s pregnancy and people – to be precise a quite bubbly avatar – had told him. Despite of this Ma Ko had not visited his brother since he was eager to find out when he would tell him. Somehow it left a strangely bitter taste to find out that his brother was becoming a father before him. Wasn´t he supposed to be the big brother who experienced everything first? Could happy go lucky Bo Lin handle so much responsibility? No, you´re not giving yourself a headache about this, he scolded himself. He surely would not be able to be a good father – how should he?

Not only did he have the child unfriendliest working hours a man could have, he also had nobody who could serve as an advisor. Luckily Asami wasted no thoughts about children yet, they were young and Mako wanted to find out if they worked out properly before even thinking about something as binding as a child. He washed himself up and dressed in a casual suit and a white, high collared shirt. He left the room and hurried over to his lover who indeed was groaning sleepily. He frowned, why were coal pen smeared blueprints strewn all over asamis nightstand and floor? Usually Asami was obsessed about order, like most engineers she even sorted her coal pens according to length and thickness! "good morning baby." He greeted his girlfriend. Asami liked pet names, especially if they weren´t classy. "ummhh. Come and cuddle." She was quite seductive with a bared shoulder, and the long black hair strewn across the pillows, while wiggling around like an overgrown toddler. "It´s already close to midday. Your butler might get annoyed at you." Mako still disliked the strict old man who behaved himself like Asamis grandfather. The stiff geezer still called him Mr. Chouw and even Asami was called "little mistress" at best. That was especially fitting, since Asami was more than a head taller than the old fart. "Nwahh" even if her sleepy growns were heart wrenchingly cute the young man did just settle himself on her bedside.

"You´re running a company – you know that your secretary is working since about four hours, do you?" Ma Ko responded. It was marvelous – his orderly and organized girlfriend actually had turned out to be quite the late and messy sleeper. On the other hand – she worked after nightfall, at ungodly hours Ma Ko would be hard pressed just to keep his eyes open. "Shut up…" Asami grumbled annoyed and buried her face deeper in her pillow. Mako grinned as the door was opened in a fluid movement and the old pest entered the room. "GOOOD MORNING LITTLE MISTRESS!" the old man boomed, obviously ignoring Ma Kos presence. "It´s time to greet another beautiful day." He trumpeted and drew back the curtains. The daylight was flooding the room and Asami blinked sleepily. The old scoundrel even opened the windows. She sat up and slid out of the bed without looking at the butler or her lover. The young woman grumpily disappeared into her bathroom, where the sound of running water could be heard instantaneously. "Good morning Mr. Chouw." The old man responded in a much more civilized timbre. "The maids have already prepared a breakfast, you may join as you like." He stated politely as ever.

"Yeah – I´ll do that." The young man responded. Asami always spent eternities in the bathroom, so the officer left the bedroom and headed downstairs. The butler was of course following him since a fragile ninety stone cop definitely would be hard-pressed opening brass hewn Tanaka-doors. "Are there any news concerning the plains?" the young man asked Bak. Like most butlers, the old man was well versed in current politics and read at least two newspaper a day. He had served other families in the kingdoms, attended the imperial manservant academy in Ba Sing Se – maybe some of his former classmates were serving tea to the infamous princes of the Ling clan! There was meaning behind the saying "If a lord beats his manserf a lord may be served by peasants" Ma Ko assumed. No matter how much time he spent reading people, captain Chouw had no idea what the old man was thinking and where his loyalties dwelled – most likely nobody did know that. "Oh – some tiny bird told me some quite frightening things." He responded in a strained and friendly tone. "A royal tax collector slaughtered his escort and betrayed the government! He openly joined the rebellious Ling clan, can you imagine something like that!" the old man sounded a tiny bit upset. Ma ko just let out a strange noise. Even if he hadn´t visited a fancy private school he knew that tax collectors were the incarnation of the earth nation government, just like the public security agents.

The nations were indeed fallen in disarray, if even the most loyal of its servants started to betray the new order it was questionable how the ling clan should be stopped. Actually, it was questionable if there even was somebody in the nations who WANTED them stopped! "Damn." Ma Ko muttered under his breath. He knew the propaganda of these nationalistic supremacists quite well. "Home under the crown…Make the empire great again!" was their slogan directed at the United Republic, which still was referred to as the occupied colonies! "Do you know more Ba Tan." He was serious. Also, he was worried about Korra – even if she was the Avatar, she was endangered if she kept on touring the kingdoms. People had murdered Avatars before and he was terribly afraid that he would have to bury another friend soon. Why couldn´t the Kingdoms be located on the south pole, or an even more remote location? Then they could just ignore them – like the rural tribes on the shores of Shinji! The young man sighed in frustration. Republic City had turned out to become a cultural and economic center of the nations, the leading beacon of technology and progress and sadly that led to his home being targeted by all kinds of scumbags. Still Ma Ko wondered if it was right to mingle in the other nations affairs, if it wasn´t Korra who was wrong.

Who were they to decide that a democracy where women were equal in front of law WAS better than a feudal society? How could they expect people to throw away their centuries old traditions and follow their path? A path that was far from well-trodden! Even IF the Republic stood on the high ground of morality they had to be rational – for Koh´s sake! It was NOT rational to rub salt in every other nation´s face on a regular basis! Ba Tan had started narrating something but the young man had spaced out for a moment, still the old butler was too polite to address his lack of interest. "What furthermore worries me is not the fact that armies are gathered in the planes of Chu Da. It´s the fact that said armies don´t consist out of regular, conscripted soldiers but the rebellious scum that has infested the south for decades!" Mr. Tan referred with a grim look. Ma Ko was rather ill informed about ancient politics, especially if foreign nations were involved. He was a cop and even if he was Asamis boyfriend that didn´t mean they talked politics in the rare time they could spend together. "Are you talking along the line of forgsquirrel crazy cultists or along the line of pillaging mercenaries?" The young man felt a deep frustration and hatred towards these idiotic lordlings who were planning to engulf the world in flames for an idiotic chair of jade and a hilarious looking crown. The old man laughed a high-pitched cynical laugh.

"I´m talking of Bu Shin´s – bloody war demons, veterans of the cannibal wars, drug addicted Wu-Dang practitioners, rapists and mass murderers! The ling´s pardon pirates, highwaymen and other scumbags if they join the army!" He clenched his teeth. "I just wonder how in the heavens this Shing Quan Ling thinks he can control even a tenth of his men once they are armed and well-fed!" he griped. "Of course these scoundrels are highly efficient killing machines but even an IDIOT has to know that they won´t stop killing and plundering just because a Ling sits on the jade throne!" Ma Ko was gulping dryly.

"Where do you know all that from Ba Tan, your source has to be close to the Ling Clan – do you know who is behind this family's sudden ambition?" Ma Ko wanted to know. He too had mighty friends and like hell he would sit idly by until these madmen were lighting up his city! Ba Tans face showed genuine puzzlement. "Now – that you bluntly ask me Mr. Chouw… Everybody is talking about the Lings that and the Lings this but…They´re not speaking of the head of family Ling Shing Quan or some of his sons in particular." He responded thoughtful. Ma Ko himself actually had another feeling in his guts. "For me that somehow smells like Dai Li." He muttered absentmindedly, a bolt of unseen electricity shot through the servant's body. "Now – now Mr. Chouw, you shouldn´t believe paranoid drunkards." Tan chided him, but Ma Ko had seen what he had seen. "Luckily the pairlament of the firenation is at least enhancing the border´s defenses. That´s more than this useless airhead Raiko does!" Tan growled. Chouw sighed. The president of the United Republic, elected for the fourth time by the council, still believed that good words and contracts would keep the Ling clan at bay. It almost seemed as if somebody inside the Republic wanted to quell any forming resistance! The plains of Chu Da only appeared in small, privately published newspapers, while they were completely absent from the radio stations or the republic times.

With his newly appointed job he wasn´t able to meet up with somebody besides Asami on a regular basis – his former Captain and present Chief excluded. Ping Hungshu was trying to strengthen the rights of the riot squat into a self-defense force with military grade equipment and encampments. Still the high Council and many officials were trying to silence him since they were afraid that the great nations might take this signal of aggression as an excuse to invade the Republic´s territory. The bloody merchants didn´t have it in their blood to lead a nation – damn he sounded like a member of the Agni Kai, Ma Ko reprimanded himself. Oh damn – he really had to get the weekly schedules supervised and furthermore there were twenty-five cases that he had to supervise in the organized crime division. Supervising, even the word made his mood turn sour. Working a case was good honest work, you talked to people – secured evidence and tried to prove theories. If you were successful you got an arrest warrant and everything was settled. Even working the badge, patrolling the streets and prying drunkards apart had its perks…

As a Captain most of these little privileges were taken care of by your juniors – in Ma kos case his seniors as well – and you had to sit behind a wooden desk and stare at illegible scribbling day in, day out! At least he wasn´t Chief of police. Ol Cap Hungshu was quite annoyed about his new job as well, while his assistant and former partner Horishima was more than enthused by this change of tides. Ma Ko was wondering, why the young woman tied herself to an old womanizer like Hungshu. Even if their ties were strictly professional – which he assumed – she was damaging her reputation. The established police force he was serving in was turning conservative and bureaucratic – people of the old guard, like Ping Hungshu, Mochee or even a Toph Bei Fong would have a very difficult standing today. Even HE had difficulties because he didn´t work "the book" but did what he thought was right – at least when he could afford to do so. In the meanwhile, he had entered the red dining room, one of five in the mansion, where the maids had already prepared a quite voluptuous feast. The young man wasn´t very hungry, so he only took two boiled eggs, some noodle- soup and a small salad.

"I know that Raiko is an idiot, I guess that's the reason the big nations made him president." Ma Ko replied to a startled looking Tan. Obviously, the old man had thought the conversation was finished. He graciously poured Ma Ko some tea. "Well – if rock comes to stone I might be of some assistance Mr. Chouw." The old man smirked mirthfully. Suddenly he didn´t look like a nice old butler anymore – he seemed outright creepy. "O-Ok?" Chouw responded while chewing on a mouth full of lettuce and bean sprouts. "As the personal assistant of Hiroshi Sato I may have…hidden some things from the less official factories – to lower the casualties." He responded nonchalant. How come that Ma Ko had the quavering feeling this old bastard was lying about the casualty part… the young man still sat there, his mouth agape. "WHAT!" he blurted startled. Tan sighed "Please close your mouth Mr. Chouw, I don´t want to see your lettuce." He lectured him as if they were talking about the weather. Ma Ko obeyed silently, he was too baffled to respond anything. "Nevertheless, bullet-throwers, grenades and motor-gliders will not be of use to untrained personnel. You need trained people which currently are rather – lacking!" Tan responded. "they even were lacking during the equalist uprising and I highly doubt that anybody of the former initiates will expose his identity, even if a full pardon would be given." The old man trailed off.

"Actually, I plan on taking things in my own hands, and you – may be of great help." Tan was kneading his bony hands. Ma Ko instinctively frowned, he hated being somebodies' pawn, not lastly because he had been played for a fool quite often – especially in the murky shithole he referred to as the "old days". "I´m all ears." He didn´t sound eager at all. "Chrm.. I know you don´t trust me Mr. Chouw – I just hope you understand that I´d never let any harm befall the little mistress." Tan responded seriously. Ma Ko never had put any real thought into the relationship between Asami and her butler, which seemed to be as mistake. His girlfriend still was doing some kind of womanly magic inside the bathroom, was she summoning Hung Wa the porcelain maker? That would explain the exquisite tan of her almost porcelain-like skin. The Butler wasn´t taking a seat, which made this talk even more awkward – conspirators were supposed to hunch together in dark corners! "Actually, there are a lot of high ranking officials who feel the strong arm of the fire nation parliament, as well as the southern embassy… .and they really don´t like it." Tang responded. Chouw wasn´t terribly surprised. He respected Korra´s father. But the man wasn´t a good Chieftain, even though he was damn popular. He lacked a vision for the future – something his idiotic little brother had more than was good for him. Because of this the Chieftain listened to everything his advisors, mainly rich traders, told him. The south tried for years to take over the industrial trade from the Republic using quite underhanded techniques that only benefitted semi-native companies like Varrik´s large company agglomerate.

"Yeah – but the south actually is the thing that keeps our bulk goods distributed, isn´t that so?" Ma Ko asked naively. He couldn´t imagine the republic harbor without watertribe ships and sailors. "It´s not about the trade itself, it´s more about - fair competition being ENFORCED." Tan responded. "I´m talking about the red Monsoons, the dog-soldiers and their interesting entrepreneurships in the harbor district. We both know quite well that the southern water tribe lost its fangs with the passing of Hakoda the defender. We need to make sure that they stop influencing the decisions made here. And they do so a lot, even going as far as using the name of Master Katara." Tan cleared his throat. "That´s hilarious, I mean – Korra´s da…the Chieftain just declared that the will of the people has to be respected. And he cited a speech of Lady Katara from…" Ma ko fell silent as he noticed the pure mirth dancing across the old man's face. "My..my…just how naïve a fool are you Mr. Chouw.." he shook his head. "If you´re loyal to your friend's father, then be a man and say it." The old man almost mocked him. Ma Ko furrowed his brows in anger. "I´m NOT serving anyone besides this city!" he snapped. The old butler´s eyes darted to the brand new, mechanical clock adorning the wall.

"Then prefer to fool yourself Mr. Chouw…." The old man trailed off. "I´ll prepare the tea for the young mistress." Suddenly he seemed like the gentle, good-natured grandfather Ma Ko had taken him for. It still was somehow creepy – as soon as Asami walked down the stairs the old fart had prepared her white tea-flower. Ma Ko disliked the "delicate fragrance" of white tea, to him it tasted like hot rinsing water. Asami seemed to like it – well, she was a frail woman after all. He grinned, she definitely would have smacked him with some hard item if she had heard his thoughts. "So – we´re awake now?" he asked his lover. "Hmpf…" she grumbled, still a bit sleepy. Her make-up nevertheless was perfect, like every day. "Have to give a conference with the council." Asami mumbled while Tan filled her rice bowl. Ma Ko knew she was working herself up into a fit. This conference was quite important – Tenzin had worked weeks on end to arrange the meeting.

Asami was going to hold a speech in front of the whole council, not just the four nominal heads. She was explaining them how bullet throwers worked and was presenting a manufacturing scheme which should be founded by the republic. The main problem was that Asami herself wasn´t backing her own task. It had taken Tenzin half an hour to convince her and the monky airbender could be VERY convincing if he wanted to. In the end a rather pissed Asami had consented, mostly because he too had been siding with Tenzin. Even if this new weaponry was dangerous and would, without any doubt, lead to more death than arrows ever had – they couldn´t risk the ling clan to get their hands on these weapons while nobody else did. Because if they did, there would be barely anything in the world that could stop them. "You´ll ensnare them – and it´s the right thing to do Asami." He stopped himself from blurting on about them having no choice. If he did that she most likely would just get sassy and show him she had a choice. At least that was what Korra had done, when they were a couple and Ma Ko did not think it was the right moment to check out if Asami was tuned the same way.

They chatted about the weather and the upcoming radio program, neither Ma Ko nor Asami were great mover fans, since the movements seemed quite artificial and the storylines were so shallow they weren´t even funny anymore. "You should leave Mr. Chouw, if you want to start your shift on time – that is." Tan responded sticking out his head from the hidden niche in which he was standing whenever Ma ko and Asami were dining. This was another quirky and creepy custom of the rich and famous he would never get accustomed to. Weren´t these people embarrassed to spread out their intimacy in front of numerous servants? At least Asami had drastically reduced the maid staff since he moved in – maybe he could get this old fart away from the mansion as well. Tan was a dangerous man, as he had noticed earlier. The butler was perfectly on time, his inner clock had to be as precise as Asamis praised pocket-watch. "Yes, thank you Tan." Her responded. "I´ll leave the rest to you." He responded while kissing his girlfriend on the cheek. Asami frowned and tried to drag him into a more private kiss. He struggled decisively.

He had been a street-rat and especially because he had been he wouldn´t – stain – a woman with a public kiss. That was especially true for the woman he loved. Ma Ko rose, while the vile old bastards' lips were twitching in silent laughter. As Asami looked down on her boiled eggs his lips moved silently. "Are you loyal to this city Mr. Chouw?" he formed the words so prominent than one could assume he was speaking colloquially. Ma Ko grit his teeth and left the room. There was a tiny pang of doubt wriggling in his chest. Maybe – just maybe he indeed had been a naïve young boy who believed things were right because his friends did them. He definitely would have a some olongs today. He would doublecheck all harbor related crimes himself. It would be best if he got back on the street and scouted out the bustling black market himself. It had been too long Ma Ko Chouw had been chained to his desk. It was time he let the beast roam again, a boyish smirk settled on his features. He loved playing detective, especially if he got to deceive some dimwitts in the process.

He just hoped Asami had not noticed the discussion he led with her manservant. If she found out that even Tang, the last strand of family left to her, was a scheming equalist with a private spy-network that could quite well shatter the hollow shell of self-esteem he had helped her build around a guilt-stricken heart. He didn´t want to think about that anymore, he had to run some investigations before Bo Lins stupid garden party! While he had been very close to simply ignore the numerous invitation cards, letters and telegrams his annoying little brother sent Asami had been adamant. Ma Ko sighed, he would never learn to outright say NO to a woman! At least he wouldn´t have to spend the evening next to Oh Pals family. These people were creeping him out even more than Asami´s extravagant mansion. The most bearable was Su Yin´s eldest. The pale young man with the strange haircut at least was silent and didn´t state the fact that he was a BEI FONG in every second sentence. That was what these strange twins did – boys that couldn´t do anything besides dominating a sport only popular in the city their mother owned! And their mother – Ma Ko could understand quite well why the Chief had ignored her presence for more than twenty years. That woman was like the sun bathing in her own light and what was even worse – she actually wanted to tell HIM how life worked! Ma Ko sighed and walked to his motorcycle. He pulled out the small crank lever and started up the V2 engine. He then drove off, floating through the bustling traffic of republic city.

Chouw was wiping his Face, his whole body was damp from sweat, due to his intensive paperwork. His head felt slightly blurry as he eyed the still half a span high heap of reports waiting for his signature. His boys had been busy – especially in the harbor district it seemed. These people seemed to be smuggling anything. And as Tan said, the description – tall, dark skinned man with foreign accent – appeared in almost every report related to the harbor district. Mako rose and faced the detailed city map adorning the wall of his office. Having an own office was one of the few perks of being a captain. He heard a knocking sound on the door. "Enter." He snapped, slowly his tone was becoming like the Chief´s. He felt a stinging pain in his heart whenever he thought about Chief Bei fong. She was more to him than a boss and it bothered him that he never had deemed it necessary to tell her that. Now it wasn´t possible to tell her anything anymore. They only could talk to a gravestone sitting atop an empty casket. The young man shook his dizzy head and focused on the present. He was at work! "Captain Chouw." The inspector saluted. Ma Ko nodded in agreement and pointed to a chair on the other side of his cheap looking steel desk. The police force really overdid it with the whole metal worship thing. They even had a shrine dedicated to their house god… Ousen the steelbreaker…the idol looked outright hilarious! Like a tiny man with huge mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. His ears were also ridiculously big! "inspector Nishi, how can I help you?" Ma Ko responded. The former firenation soldier was at least thirty years his senior – which made being his superior a tiny bit awkward.

Luckily the older man was a very correct officer who would never dare to question a superior's orders – even if his superior was a green sponge like Ma Ko. "I´ve made some progress in the Ashk-Ask…ah mother of faces… I just can´t spell these wet names! The illegal import of frozen Penguin livers on pier sixteen." He responded grumpy. "I wanted to inform you on the stop, since the further course of action is out of my competence." He narrated. Ma Ko nodded. "I appreciate that Inspector. Please begin." He asked the officer. "Well, fact is that we were able to intercept a delivery of penguin-livers creatively stored inside frozen macarels. We arrested the culprit – a well-known small-time thief, smuggler and drug dealer of southern descent." He narrated. the man obviously disdained everything associated with the water-tribes, especially if it concerned the southern tribe. Even if it infuriated Ma Ko that many people viewed the quite modern southern society as a barbaric illiterate tribe, which large part of the southern watertribe still were, he kept his mouth shut. "Which is nothing special in the harbor district. The Askramraq are a tribal gang." He responded. Actually, the Askramraq were the southern watertribe equivalent of the Yakuza, with the exception that they often involved civilians in their businesses. They were ruthless men worshipping the savage blue wolf, a deity most pleased with raiding, pillaging and feasting excessively.

Well, if one looked closer the "savage- wolf- sons" weren´t as violent as their forefathers. They had adapted and conducted crimes that paid off better than piracy. "Yes – I always said that´s a mistake to bring these savages into our republic. People who can´t even read aren´t suited for democracy! How can they do anything besides turning to crime, it´s just a natural thing for them to do." The officer rambled. "Whatever." Ma Ko interrupted a tad too snidely. "Back to the case inspector, I don´t have all day." He reprimanded his subordinate. The older man snapped to attention. "We questioned the subject and proposed a deal if he informed us about his superiors. Of course, a wet would accept the deal and he informed us about the structures about the structure of his organization in the city." The inspector looked very content for a haggard, sunburned man close to his fifties. "I´ve prepared a small map that summarized everything for you." He responded eagerly and handed and orderly drawn flowchart to Chouw. The drawn structure strongly differed from anything Ma Ko had seen or experienced up to this day. Instead of a clear, military like hierarchy, with soldiers, enforcers, counselors and chapter leaders the Askramraq didn´t have a leader! They were organized in crews supposedly consisting of less than ten members which were led by a raider.

The crews did run their own businesses and paid a, surprisingly small, fee to the feast-hall which was the spiritual center of their cult. The leaders reported their activities to the feast-hall and met there for celebration. The major decisions made for the whole of Askramraq were made there it seemed. Nevertheless, no more information was evident from the chart. "Quite strange that this heap of unorganized scumbags can hold their ground compared to the Agni-kai or the triple threats. But I suppose that has something to do with the thing they call Brodir strid onr strid." The inspector explained that the single crews could call all other to their aid at once without any money being spared. It was the kind of loyalty that fitted more into a warband than into a criminal syndicate. Obviously internal disputes were settled with strict and bloody duels, which reduced the casualties of internal struggles drastically. Furthermore, every crew could do what their leader deemed right. "That´s the reason we didn´t have them on our tables properly, I´m very sorry for this sir." The older man finished, while a thoughtful Ma Ko was scratching his clean-shaven cheeks. He waved his hand dismissively. "Mistakes are made. It´s not that I would´ve known more about this subject." He admitted.

"But why would making this information public be out of your competence?" Ma Ko asked dryly. "Well…. these penguin livers directly were connected to a private party organized by….Varrik son of Varrik." The officer had lowered his voice to a whisper. "Furthermore, said culprit also told me that Varriks father was a very prominent raider." Ma Ko almost broke out in loud laughter. Varrik – a hard boiled criminal? That was so hilarious it could be straight out of the newest Noatak mover! "What is so funny about that captain? Just because Mr. Varrik himself may be a charming celebrity that doesn´t have to mean there are no burning coffins under his nails." The old man stated. He was right, and Ma Ko wouldn´t have been surprised to learn that Varrik had washed red monsoon money in his youth or bribed officials on numerous occasions, but being a member of a violent warrior cult? That was something he simply could not picture in his head. But of course, this was something that surpassed on ordinary officer's competence, or to be more precise – his guts! "I understand. You were hesitant to make a visit and ask some questions – am I right?" Ma Ko asked rhetorically. The long served official nodded in shame. "I…await your orders captain." Inspector Nishi seemed relieved that he no longer had the responsibility of this case in his hands. "Do you wish to accompany me?" Ma Ko asked while taking up the golden Badge that rested next to his ink-bottle. "If you need my assistance I´ll gladly be of service captain!" the old cop declared with a loud voice. Nishi was one of the tidy officers. Ma Ko nodded.

Declining such an offer would only lead to ill blood, even though the inspector wouldn´t be much of a helping hand. A man like Varrik could sell a rotten squirreltoad-liver as a high prized aphrodisiac to begin with! The two men left the organized crime division and made their way to the Republic tax office which was located half a block away from the police headquarters. If somebody knew the daily routines of Varrik son of Varrik it was the tax officials. The man´s companies had been in the red-book of the tax office since many years. Actually, Korra had told him about Varriks continuous battle against the tax officials. There had been a certain pride in her voice – even as the Avatar she still was a daughter of the people. And the people despised anything related to bureaucracy and taxation. In the south there were no taxes, the people donated money to the state in public auctions, which quickly escalated into street festivals! But that was something that would never work in any other place of the world! The tax office definitely was a place that would make Korra feign a stomachache. The building looked as inviting as the headquarters and sported a similar wide entrance with long rows of wooden banks.

There were twelve information desks that provided guidance for the businessmen and citizens that had to deal with the taxation offices. Inspector Nishi was well known at the financial office, since his wife worked here. Ma Ko marveled that he somehow managed to memorize all these facts about his thirty subordinates. "I´ll go and ask Mr. Long who´s dealing with Varricks enterprises, just wait a minute captain." The inspector strode off and Ma Ko waited obediently. He would let the inspector take the lead for now, since he had no idea of the inner workings of the taxation office. While the old man idly chatted with an earth nation official Ma Ko was humored by the loud cursing of a finely dressed businessman. "You damned pentapusses are sucking me dry! That´s my last yuan you´re taking!" he huffed. "Shall I sell my children to the whorehouses, is it that what makes you rotten lackeys happy? But if – if I were a good for nothing FIRENATION spawn I´d be greeted with bows and a bag of gold from this so-called state of FOUR nations!" the official obviously was scared, since such a behavior wasn´t something occurring on a weekly basis. Two of his colleagues rose from their desk and closed in. The younger men should be able to take care of a fat, middle aged earthnationer, shouldn´t they? "But I – I see just ONE nation doing all the work while the other THREE reap all the PROFIT!" the man raged. "Lister Mr. Wu, either you leave right now, or we´ll file a…" "You spineless parrotleeches dare to threaten me – ME! Do you know what I DID FOR THIS CITY!" the guy was totally blowing his top, his head was es red as a plumato and even the other clients of the taxation office were staring at him with awe, disgust or a silent joy.

"I built flats for hundreds and what´s the thanks! One hundred thousand yuan of tax? Back in the homeland they acknowledge a merchant's success and here -HERE the hard working are PUNISHED! WHERE´S THE JUSTICE IN THAT PEOPLE! WE are the natives of this lands and we´re treated like TRASH!" Ma Ko had enough, especially since this ignorant rich bastard was one of the damnable Ling sympathizers! One or two of the businessmen nodded approvingly, while the majority of the people was disgusted by the undignified behavior of Mr. Wu. Ma Ko had never heard his name before, so his service towards Republic City could not have been very big. The young man did not notice that inspector Nishi quickly finished his talk and hurried after his superior. Ma Ko was angered so he simply stomped up to the stubby and loudly ranting gold-toad. The elderly official seemed relieved as he saw captain Chouw approaching. The young man already had flashed his badge. The younger men, slim scholar like figures, tried to gently push Mr. Wu towards the entrance of the building. It was to no avail, since the enraged man swatted their hands away like a fuming child. Mako grabbed the fleshy hand that almost hit his face. The businessman was startled at the strong grip. "What whoreson dares…" he fumed, tore himself free and turned around with a surprising speed.

He abruptly was silent as he almost kissed a golden badge. "Uh..ehh…good evening Officer." He stammered, suddenly quite docile as he shrunk under the young man's smoldering gaze. "Would you please repeat what you just called me?" Ma Ko asked while he tried to challenge the merchant. He would love the excuse to teach this pathetic fool a lesson. "Please excuse me sir, you know…I´ve had a very stressful day. Problems with my property." He tried to weasel himself away. "Well…if you aren´t well mannered enough to repeat what you called me to my face…" Ma Ko was short of blowing steam out of his nostrils. This cowardly shorty tried to fool him, even if there was no way anybody could be fooled in this situation! "Captain!" inspector Nishi interrupted him. "Thank you for your interference Captain Chouw." The elderly official thanked him, while his juniors bowed politely and stepped back. The Captain was not thinking straight, most likely because he remembered the high price they had paid for this cities peace. A price nobody would know about – that men like this cowering fat swine dared to openly side with despicable scumbags who threw war grenades at children! Ma Ko struck. His fist colliding with the fat man's chins like a flash. He didn´t notice the pain that shot through his knuckles at the impact. The merchant was knocked out cold by this one strike but caught two more until he hit the floor with a loud thud.

Ma Ko snarled and the Official was short of wetting himself. The strong arm of inspector Nishi grabbed the fuming young man who still was consumed by rage and grief. "That´s enough captain." He responded baffled, while struggling with Ma Ko for the brief second it took for him to regain his composure. The man was bleeding like the cow-swine he was, served him right! "Mother of faces." The young man stammered. "He obviously was resisting his arrest." Ma Ko spit out in disdain. "We all know this man is an unpatriotic coward." Another businessman voiced his consent to the harsh treatment, while people were whispering. Damnit! Ma Ko had really lost control, that most likely would get him a rightful scolding, if not even demotion or a disciplinary process. After all Mr. Wu could afford his lawyers and excessive violence during duty was a serious stain on an officer's reputation. "Get a grip on yourself Cap." Nishi hissed and bowed down to help the groaning man back on his feet. The man was cursing. "I´ll obliterate you! My layers – I want to speak with my layers at ONCE." He blurted while blood was oozing from mouth and nose. "Oh? Yes – well then WE have to file a report about the things you said to these polite and well-mannered tax officials." Nishi responded in a cool tone. Ma Ko still was glaring at the merchant. "That´s a given." He added in a gravelly voice. The official just smiled the polite, neutral smile of the earthen nations. The man added some colorful curses Ma Ko did not understand. The official paled and looked as if he feared the young officer would conduct murder in broad daylight. He relaxed as he noticed that Ma Ko held no such intentions. "I apologize for dirtying your floor." He responded with a court not and pointed on the few drops of blood that were adorning the polished stone tiles.

"You´ll accompany us outside! Then I´ll bring you to a healer – Mr. Wu." Inspector Nishi led the whimpering and fuming man outside, while Ma Ko stared at his bloodied knuckles. "Are you alright captain Chouw?" the official asked. He snorted, while he still felt as if he had just returned from buffalo flats. "Yes – I´ve overreacted but men like Mr. Wu make me lose my head. Do these people not see what happens in the nations!" he responded with a hint of despair in his voice. The official nodded solemn. "do you know who manages Varriks companies?" he asked the man. The official furrowed his brow at the sudden change of topic. "That´s the reason we came here before this bastard made a scene." Ma Ko responded, while the official cleared his throat to inform him about his ill-mannered speech. "I could say you just should look out for colleagues who look extraordinary pale and have dark rings under their eyes." Mako was short of smiling about the statement of the deadpanning man. "you just need to enter floor 24 b, offices twelve to sixteen. The poor colleagues have been assigned to this task and the spirits may spare me from it." The man responded while tossing imaginary salt over his left shoulder. "Thank you very much." Ma Ko responded and bowed politely. He still had no idea where to go and inspector Nishi still was not back. How could it take so long to drop this scumbag into a carriage and be done with him. Now he tried to find a board, or some kind of plan for the building. The official's eyes were sparkling in merriment as he eyed the frowning young man, who obviously was clueless. "May I help you." He offered politely, while Ma Ko sighed internally. The man was not much older than Ma Ko himself. "You have quite the eloquent right hand." He smiled at Chouw.

The officer fought a blush, he had behaved quite embarrassing. His jaw muscles were dancing under the slightly brownish taint. "Could you please point me towards floor 24 b." he responded flustered. The young man nodded eagerly. "Of course, piece of cake. Head down the main hall. You see the information desks, right?" Ma Ko nodded. "You take the fourth staircase, there is a badgermole inlay leading to the Shu shrine as well. You walk upstairs until you reach the second story. You exit the staircase on the right, which is the b side. Then you search for door twenty and open it. The offices there are what you seek. But may I inquire why the captain of the organized crime division wants to have a talk with financial officers dealing with the blue waves trading incorporated?" he obviously was a nosy guy. Ma Ko wasn´t caught off guard. "Oh – actually that is more of a private matter." He lied smoothly. "You may have read that I and miss Sato are on – rather friendly terms." He responded with the outlines of a smile. The whole tabloid reporters of Republic City had been running rampant as they had caught a whiff about him and Asami being a couple again. In fact, they had published the whole thing before they themselves had spoken about their feelings – it was kind of embarrassing to admit that he only had mustered the guts to confess after reading the headline of a certain tabloid newspaper.

The official still was staring at him like a lost puppy. "so, it IS true." The man mumbled to himself. "and since Varrik kind of – helped us out with keeping things hidden until – chrm…for example avatar Korra got the news from US, I owe him something. So we´ve been thinking about arranging a surprise party for him, but since he´s even busier than Asami." Ma Ko paused, wondering about the nonsense he was blurting easily. "Well, we need to grab him when he is not preoccupied with one of his uncountable incorporations, shareholdings and heaven knows what!" he smiled a bright smile. The official seemed quite pleased with his open talk. "Oh yes – I can imagine that this is quite a difficulty. But don´t worry Mr. Chouw – a merchant's taxation official knows him better than his wife does!" he responded. Ma wondered if that was true in Varricks case – he couldn´t spent much time with his former assistant. How a woman could marry her boss was something Ma Ko didn´t understand. That just screamed cheap floozy, but since he wasn´t much better – with Asami being a millionaire and all – he just kept things to himself. "Well – I´d love to have longer chat but I actually have to keep going." Ma Ko apologized.

"I´ve set a briefing in about half an hour." He lied. They bowed politely and Ma Ko hurried through the hallways. Luckily the description was so picturesque he easily found floor 24 b. As he opened the entrance door he expected a floor but was met with a huge office that contained close to twenty desks, which were all occupied with clerks. The amount of paperwork stored in big shelves was impressive and looked more like a library than like the taxation documents of a single person. He wondered if Asami also had such an office fussing over her businesses. The officials were working idly, some of the even chatting while operating their abaqui. As he entered a tiny bell announced him and a sudden jolt went through the people, some of them even cringed visibly. When they recognized him the office started buzzing with questions. Obviously, they had expected somebody else. Most likely one of Varricks numerous lawyers or bookkeeps, Ma Ko assumed. He just stepped up to the first desk, where a young woman was seated. She was the most common girl Ma Ko had ever seen. Her face was neither feminine, nor masculine. Her hair was pulled into a timeless bun, while her official robes also were of a plain, decent green. As were her eyes. She also was neither tall, nor fat or small. Her voice however was warm and deep like a hot spring – Ma Ko almost stared in awe as she greeted him.

"Y-yeah…." He still was startled. The woman smiled, baring two rows of slightly crooked yellowish teeth. "what do you wish captain Chouw?" she asked while gracefully placing the brush she had been working with on the brush-bench. "Well Miss…chrm…I want to surprise Mr. Varrick since – just say my love life owes him big time." He actually felt a bit queasy with this lie – what if the newspaper published this story and Asami caught a whiff of him telling nonsense to the media? The official eyed her accurately trimmed fingernails, obviously she was a shy, proper behaving, earth-nation girl. Asami always put on a cold exterieur but he simply could not imagine that all the dirt the media had smeared on her in the past years was something she just rubbed off. She was cracking jokes about the petty insults smeared on the wall surrounding her home but Ma Ko himself was furious. He would have sent officers to beat the crap out of the scoundrels that were doing this if Asami had not forbidden him. In her opinion that belonged to the freedom of speech – sadly the law was on her side as well. Captain Chouw waited as an impolite silence stretched between them and the other clerks stared at him in wonder. The young woman blushed slightly and finally found the valor to break the silence. Her colleagues were listening eagerly and some middle-aged women were outright gawking at the young people with suspiciously glinting eyes.

Most likely these ladies were consuming way too much romance novels and tabloid papers, Ma Ko thought grumpily. "How exactly may I be of assistance to you Captain? I um… control the books of the Varrik and Varrik mover incorporated and the subsidiary companies associated with it. I´ve seen Mr. Varrik maybe twice in the seven years I´m working here." She responded rather shy. Ma ko was a tad disappointed, on the other had it would have been too easy if this lady would have been able to help him. "Of course,…" he cleared his throat to subdue his outright stupid assumption. "Well, I just thought you might have an idea who does know his daily schedules." Ma Ko responded. The girl was furrowing her brows and lost herself in thought. "Taiji – does Varrik still operate the blue waves foundation for supporting sons of Varrik son of Varrick?" she responded. Ma ko let out a yelp of surprise. The guy was doing WHAT? He had a foundation for his illegitimate children? Some of the officials were chuckling behind risen hands. Damn, he was making a fool out of himself, wasn´t he? One of the elder women was shaken from her almost giddy drooling. "Y-YES." She responded a tad too loudly and politely hurried over. She was quite chubby and looked like the incarnation of a middle-aged housewife. "So sweety, what do you want to know?" It took some seconds until Ma Ko realized he actually had been called "sweety". "Well Madam. I actually want to know where and when I have a chance to have a chat with Varrick son of Varrik without flashing my badge at least twenty times and ruining deals worth more than my whole worldly possessions." He responded. "hmmm." The woman hummed.

"I could help you out, under one condition…" there again was this terrifying, dreamy glint in her eyes. "Being?" he almost snapped. The woman let out a chuckle. "It´s high time that this little Liling get´s to see something besides books and novels. If you take her out for dinner I´ll serve you Varrik on a silver plate…I´m talking about a real dinner, not some ramen on a street corner" She responded in an adamant tone. Ma Ko gulped dryly. Liling, which was blushing in even deeper shades of red was stammering incomprehensive things, some male colleagues were grinning broadly. "Uhm…so you´re asking me to go on a date with your colleague – even though I have a girlfriend as you might already know from the press?" he quirked his left eyebrow. "Well, not that I´d mind." The Captain responded casually while the woman stifled a dreamy sigh. Liling almost tried to hide herself under her desk. "You´re definitely too handsome for a single woman…" this displaced housewife actually touched his shoulder while purring something along the lines "If I were twenty years younger…" "T-TAIJI – PLEASE STOP THIS!" Liling whimpered "You´re embarrassing me!" the display was almost comical. A stinging pain surged through his right arm, his biceps twitched and Ma Ko grit his teeth. "I´m a gentleman, you can be at ease Miss Liling." He responded while trying to save his face. One of the officials was laughing loudly at his statement. Ma Ko didn´t care, he wanted to know where he could get to his shady businessman. "T-THANK YOU MR. CHOUW…B-BUT I actually have a f-fiancé who´d be very upset if I w-went." She trailed off silently while her colleague suddenly started flaring like a sun.

"Y-You're engaged – OUR little girl is engaged ladies!" she squealed delighted while Liling turned from white to red and back. "TELL ME MORE sweety…Who´s the guy…Is it Shil Sho from floor ten? He´s such a cute boy, and so easily flustered – just like you my sweet elderberry!" the eager lady had already taken a seat on Lilings table. "HEY!" Ma Ko yelled. Everyone was silent. "I´m not interested in other people's fiancés so would you Mrs. Taiji please tell me what we agreed on?" he asked loudly. "Oh – what a strong voice…." She swooned. "I´ll call him over when you like. Mr Varriks foundation is – questionable – at best. He himself is the one administrating the foundation, while it is his money that flowes into it. The benefactors of this money are largely unknown, I guess there is one child which actually gets some of that money! His home also is the foundation´s facility et cetera, et cetera." The woman explained waving her hands through the air in flurry patterns. Ma Ko was shocked. Varrick, who called himself a patriotic republican was blackmailing the state with obscure financial tricks! And his little brother called such a slimy scoundrel his friend! He definitely would have a serious take with Bo on this garden party. He forced himself to continue a polite smile, while the woman continued. Liling seemed to have regained her composure to some degree, even though she still looked flustered. Actually, that wasn´t the best case, it was far from it. Ma Ko would not be able to intimidate Varrik in the rooms of the financial office. But how could he…yes, that was a good idea!

"That´s very nice of you Mrs. Taiji, but the present I´d like to make Mr. Varrik – it just doesn´t fit in these rooms. You know, Mrs. Sato and me have searched for something adequate for quite the long time. What kind of present do you give to a man who already has everything money can buy!" he responded. The woman responded at once. "The thing you can´t buy… right Jiling" she squealed in delight while her colleague flinched visibly. Ma ko was getting the chills, was this how women talked about romance? "Well – I´m not planning to propose sodomy to Mr. Varrik, in fact – we thought about a new yacht, since he loves yachts." He explained while even Mrs. Taiji was silenced for a short second. He cherished his small victory. She giggled. "Oooh, Captain Chouw, you´re such a bad boy." He again felt queasy. If a woman his aged had talked to him like that he might have felt great, but with a woman who could´ve been his mother… this was outright creepy! He simply ignored her words. "Could you make up an excuse for him to meet with you somewhere – like Chatnuk noodlery on quay sixteen?" he asked the woman. She was a bit startled. "O-Of course I could. Y-You would gift him a – a yacht because he played matchmaker?" she blurted shameless. Half the male officials already had left the room, while Taijis female friends were all fired up. He was not going to be caught off guard again. "As you alredy stated, there are some things in life you can´t buy." He responded truthfully.

Again, these terrifying glittering eyes – he was lucky that Asami didn´t stare at him like that. Taiji sighed dreamily, while captain Chouw wanted to storm out of the room. "Of course, I can do that for you." She even had the impertinence to softly pinch his cheek – was he a little boy? Liling smiled silently, while he felt indignated. "Whatever." He muttered annoyed. "Would this evening be good – after the eight hour at Chatnuk noodlery, right?" she repeated. Ma Ko nodded. "Thank you very much Mrs. Taiji." He responded still startled by this strange office lady.

Authors note: Dear Readers (if there are still some left) I apologize for the extremely Long delays, but I had an extremely stressful time in the real word. Work,Work Work and some personal losses, so yeah…. more important stuff to attend to. I hope the updates will become more frequent in the furure but I can not promise that. Have a nice day.


	30. My beloved daughter

**My beloved daughter**

Lin groaned sleepily. She felt tired and since she had nothing to do, she could just continue sleeping. The woman turned her head, since her knotted hair made feel it unwell. She then groaned agonized as the wounded side of her face touched the floor. A dull pain flooded through her face. She blinked and rose. Somehow if felt awkward to be in a man's flat – even if it was Lee. It wasn´t as if they had slept with each other, but people would think they had and so she was a cheap slut. People still got close to Lin´s self-esteem. She always had tried to be perfect, but she never had been successful. It all had been expected since she was her mother's daughter! She glanced around to find out if her friend was somewhere. Gleaming sunrays fell through the roof. The missing tiles made the air bearable and provided light. Since Lee was absent she would not have to feel ashamed about running around in her bindings and panties. Panties - another recent invention that by far surpassed the annoying loincloths that led to nothing but sore – places.

It was not that she would mind if he saw her like that, but if he drew wrong conclusions – like men did all the time – things would get complicated and stressful. Even if she looked like a triad bitch she mustn´t adopt the filthy language of her mother. Her heart thudded with a piercing ache. Her mother was on airtemple island and hopefully – no most likely - she was worried sick about her. Lin hat to admit that to herself. And she had dared to sleep until the sun had climbed in the heavens. She felt guilty until she realized that it might be good for her mother to take some of her own medicine. She had disappeared to nowhere without any explanation! Seeking enlightenment – what a shallow phrase for running away from grief! She had worried herself sick, Lin unconsciously wrapped her hands around her torso. She wanted to say that it wasn't her fault her mother had lost herself but there always was this nagging voice that told her otherwise! Had you cared more, had you not spent all your time with Tenzin… She grit her teeth as the old wounds opened again. Why – just why was it all so difficult! Why could she not just screw this old bitch who wouldn´t even tell her who her spirits damned father was! A man named Kanto – didn´t work out! THAT WAS ALL SHE GOT AFTER FOURTY YEARS OF ASKING AND PESTERING! SU YIN did know! Her sister even had visited her father but she – she hadn´t been allowed the same.

Her mother had always yelled at her in fury, whenever she brought up the topic! Not even uncle Sokka had helped her and sometimes Lin had wondered if her father was somebody close to her family. Somebody for whom it would have been very shameful to acknowledge her – what other reason could there be? "Why." She sighed while tears of jealousy burned in her whole eye. "Stop whimpering and get to work Miss Bei Fong." She scolded herself and unwrapped the gaze from her head. The freshly formed scar tissue still was very sensitive, even the slight breeze that found her way through the roof made her feel – on edge. Lin stared at the black eyepatch she had bought from a healer. It was very soft. She gulped dryly. She could not avoid looking in a mirror forever and most likely it would be the best if she did so without anybody around. Lee still didn´t know what was wrong with her head. He had inquired but she was ashamed – she had been weak this….was her punishment. Somehow it felt better to believe that than than…no – no she wouldn´t. The woman tried to forget the memories of sheer terror and fear that went with the scar she had received. She entered the bathroom, while her chest was almost shattered by the pounding of her heart. How bad would it be? She threw her shoulders back and straightened herself. As she stared into the mirror she barely suppressed a shriek of terror. She was – disgusting – nobody would ever again look at her without feeling queasy! Her empty eye socket glared at her like a bottomless pit, the remains of torn eyelids somehow stitched up and grown together in a reddish mass. Lin grabbed the tiny mirror and threw it through the bathroom. Without noticing it she had placed a hand over the right side of her face. No – she couldn´t visit her mother, she couldn´t visit anybody!

They would see her like that and – her mother would be furious! She would ask her how a Bei Fong could be so pathetic! To let her eye being clawed out by a mere riot officer. And Tenzin, Tenzin would pity her – tell her it wasn´t her fault, that he was sorry for not being able to help! Yeah – after you ditched me for a teenaged acolyte girl you´re sorry for me – the cynical voice in her head poked her chest like another glowing needle. She stifled a sob that tried to crawl out of her stomach. Her hands were trembling, so she didn´t dare to wash her eyesocket. Instead she placed the eyepatch over it. But still – she knew what was beneath the black velvet! Lin picked up the mirror, it was the cheapest of the cheap. Fractures had erupted from the edge that had hit the wall. "Damn – Lee`ll be angry. FUCK!" she growled while staring at the mirror. The stupid thing seemed to mock her. She should buy Lee a new one, since he surely didn´t have the money to simply replace the mirror. Money, Lin had to get herself a job, but she had no idea what she could do for a living. She was a cop and since she had grown up in the Bei Fong household she hadn´t learnt how to throw a household in the first place. There were no "women jobs" she could take up without being kicked out immediately. But she also had no idea of technology, nor could she go into the security business without instantly being recognized. Why didn´t she pay more attention to aunt Kataras lessons? Most likely she would have to do things a law-abiding citizen should not do, but being a burglar was something she could live with. Being a whore – no she wouldn´t disgrace herself like that. And Eating from Lees table wasn´t something she could do forever, even if he would state the opposite with much vigor. Somehow that made her feel a tad better. Maybe she also was overthinking things. While Lin was sitting on Lee´s futon and wondered about the cleanliness of the flat the door flew open.

Without thinking straight, she rose, with a flick of her wrist the rooftiles smashed aside some parts of Lee´s wardrobe. While Lin was ready to strike a huge young man stomped into the room. The tiles shot at him. "Whoa….aaaaaaaahhhhh!" he yelled as two of the clay tiles shattered on the wall next to the doorframe, while a third forcefully struck his forearms. He tumbled backwards and fell. "Go-aAAHH!" another man yelled, while thundering onto the floor. Lin Heard muffled complaints and the groaning of the intruders. She snatched her trusty cable, set on giving them a trashing. She stormed into the doorway. She had already coiled the metal whip and was ready to "Strike like thunder" as she recognized the flushed and painfully twisted face. At once the cable clattered to the floor. "Spirits Ma Ko!" in the heat of the moment she forgot to address him with his surname. "Argh." He rubbed his forearms while getting back on his feet Like an old man "I-I´m so sorry. Are you hurt!" she flushed a crimson pink. Such things weren´t allowed to happen! She wasn´t some hysteric damsel in distress – she had to be better at such things. What if Ma ko had a broken forearm!?

They should definitely visit a healer, but Lin wouldn´t even be able to pay him! Gods the universe was hating her! She should just have stayed in bed! Before she knew it the hulking young man was leaning onto her with, at least, a quarter of his weight. "You-re alive! I´m fine Chief…I´m fine!" he mumbled in a gruffy tone. "Yes, squash another decently sized person to death! You and your absurdly sturdy frame are a danger to public safety, Mr. Chouw!" A well-known voice rambled. "Don´t worry about me, I´m just spread out like a papan-bread…." Lee griped, while watching them. Lin felt uncomfortable in the young man´s embrace. He wasn´t Tenzin, or Lee – or her mother! The woman squirmed, while her ribs still made themselves known. Ma Ko wasn´t her son, so he wasn´t supposed to hug her like that! "Yeah Yeah…. go cuddle your girlfriend. I´m too old for this!" She wiggled herself free like an eel. Even if she tried to sound like the snarky Chief of police she had been for many years, her voice was warm. Ma Ko obviously had acted on a rash impulse, because he seemed to feel embarrassed as well. He started at the ceiling, as always when she had to reprimand him for something. "E-Erm…Yes…I – just forgot who you are. I apologize Chief." He responded with a polite bow. Lin frowned, actually it hadn´t felt that bad when Ma Ko treated her like an ordinary friend. Still Lin looked quite angry and Ma Ko just gawked at her like a retard! "What?" she snapped, while placing her hands on the hips. "Wellll…." Ma Ko trailed off and stared at her. "Is – Is that a piercing?" he asked dumbfounded and pointed at her mouth. Lin wanted to grab his nicely starched collar and scream at him. Do you think I like looking like a rundown triad bitch!

Can´t you just be decent and ignore these heinous tattoos and metal pieces in my face, of course she didn´t. "Ha-Ha." She stated with a sarcastic laugh. "Very observative of you Chouw, this can´t be a piercing – of course it's a concealed dagger." Lee blurted while Ma Ko flinched. "Of course, Lee." She sighed. "And what has happened with your face! You´re wearing an eyepatch - like a pirate!" Ma Ko wasn´t bothering about being inappropriate. Damn little streetrat! Lin unconsciously shielded the right side of her face again, while she hastily tried to wiggle herself out of this unavoidable question "Chouw – OUT! NOW – Before I ferget you´re no run o the mill thug! Just how can ja be so friggin impolite!" She was startled that Lee was yelling. He was so angry Lin actually expected him to unleash a whirlwind.

Ma Ko actually took a step back at the small man's fuming, while Lin was close to smiling. It looked cute, since Lee was so much smaller than the tall firebender – like a rabit fireferret trying to chew out a Reindeerdog. Well – If Lee had heard that he most likely would ramble on with even more vigor, with the exception that she would be the target of his ire! "Hey, cool down - I´m just concerned Mr. Lee!" Ma Ko shot back after catching himself. "Chief Bei Fong may have been my boss, but she´s more than that, you know!" Ma Ko stated while Lins eye bulged. Lee exhaled. "And so you just walk all over her feels, cause it´s definitely a logical conclusion that LINNY, a girl that loves peach colored Yukatas would get inked and pierces like a hard tribal chick half her age! Since that´s fashionable – that woman even loves the idiotic haircut she wore for decades!" Lee blurted seething. Lin frowned. "My name is LIN! And my haircut was FEMININE and timeless!" she responded pouty, but her protest went off unheard. Ma Ko looked as if seeing a pink tigerdillo. "YUKATAS?" he obviously was disturbed by the thought that she could wear something different than an iron armour. "Since it seems you´ve got to collect yourself you should do so outside." Lee eagerly shoved the hesitating young man into the staircase, slammed the door shut and bolted it.

"You´re really overdoing it Lee." She suddenly responded feeling quite exposed, while her pulse sped up slightly. It had been a long time anybody had been close to consider that much about her feelings, and today two people had done so! Ma Ko was hammering against the door. "I´m sorry Chief? Ok – I won´t ask silly questions anymore, you´ve proven your point Mr. Lee!" he protested. Lee just rolled his eyes. "The vigor of youth." He muttered under his breath. "I´m just kicking in the door!" her officer threatened, which warmed her heart even more. "Just a moment eager beaver!" Lee responded, while Ma Kos cringing could be felt on the other side of the door. Being able to see with your feet was an amazing gift sometimes. Most of the time it was just gross! "So. You´ve let out all the frustration you built up because we´re going to visit airtemple island?" Lin asked in a more silent tone. "And I´m NOT a LINNY – got that!" she glowered. Lee actually smiled a quite embarrassed smile. "At least you´ll get peachy Yukatas from Chouw." he responded sheepishly. Yukatas - as if she could wear something peach colored at her age! Lin snorted. "Wonderful!" her voice dripped with sarcasm as she expertly rolled her remaining eye. "Well – Ma Ko has asked some questions I avoided." Lee´s voice sounded raspy, Lin hated when men´s voices got raspy because they either were lecherous or close to crying – she wasn´t really comfortable in both situations. Especially not with Lee whom she couldn´t discard like a pai cho tile! Naturally he would talk about her eye, it was inevitable!

"I understand you don´t want to talk about what happened Lin. And if you can´t I´ll accept that – for now." Lee was wringing his hands clumsily. "But what´s behind this piece of velvet!" his face showed that he already knew – so why, why did he had to hurt her with the disgusting look he soon would display. It was bad enough she found herself ugly, she really did not need to add some memories of the people close to her recoiling from her scarred visage! "It´s obvious isn´t it" he voice was very small and her mouth close to twitching uncontrollably. "I – I -brought shame to the name!" she babbled while she barely avoided to start sobbing like a weak little kid. Lee was standing right in front of her, his eyes were sad. Then he breathed in deeply and waited. Lin Bei Fong didn´t move. "You want me to?..." he pointed at her eyepatch. With a sudden ferocity she yanked the velvet away. Much to her surprise Lee didn´t look away. He looked at her face, while fury simmered in his eyes. His breath was heaving as he undoubtedly wanted to curse the man who did this to her. Before her many years of service something like that would have made her knees wobble like jelly. She would have turned into a sighing and flushing heap of happiness!

However, Lin wasn´t like that anymore, she had learned the hard way that being weak and womanly wouldn´t bring her an ounce of respect and acknowledgement in society. Naturally she didn´t recollect these philosophical musings, she just snapped "You´re not going after that man for me! I´ll get this bastard myself!"

How humiliating would it be if she had to rely on Lee to get her revenge! She was a BEI FONG and a Bei Fong did things herself! "Keep that face. It suits you better than you might think." Lee responded earnest, while blinking astonished. Lin gulped hard, for a moment she felt as if she was talking to uncle Zuko. "What´d you know about that!" she responded bitterly. Lee seemed small, almost timid as he responded with a barely audible voice. "You know…grey eyes were meant ta be the seven step shadow´s mark in Ba Sing Se, don´t cha." He looked away. "It – hurt a lot – when I – was a kid." He squeezed out while gently tapping her shoulder. Lin was shocked, she never had thought about the time Lee and Yumi had lived in Shangyang. The sole name of the township had made her feel unwell. To actually grow up there, while looking different from anybody else… Of course that could only have ended in bullying and worse. Most likely the people hat spit at him, to ward off the evil. And because it was "fun" to pick on a little defenseless boy! To imagine that happening to little Lee, her sight was clouded and she had to wipe her eye. Lin wanted to hug her friend. She had barely placed an arm around his shoulder as Chouw struck the door. "Are you playing me for a fool? I´m not just going back to work and let you wallow in self chosen poverty! A-At least us help – you´ve…argh damn it" he protested while striking the door even harder. "Asami ´ll flail me alive if I do so!" he added. "Yeah, yeah – just don´t destroy the door." Lee responded and let Chow back in. The young officer just frowned at Lee. He was captain now – Lin noticed that this was the same rank she had cladded at his age. Of course, this only had been due to her being a Bei Fong and not due to merits!

Somehow it made her proud to see how far the young man had walked. "Congratulations Captain." She responded while hiding herself behind a smile. She threw the classical Bei Fong Punch that also had been expected from her. Ma Ko flinched. "So – may I drive you to Sato Manison? We can take Asamis boat from there…". Ma Ko responded. Just now Lin noticed that he wore a tar staring Jacket, high leather boots and the long knife of a fisherman tugged in his orange sash. Lee obviously was not taking the initiative, he was not eager to accompany her. But since she had spent the last two days with pestering him, in every minute he spent at home. He had grudgingly agreed. He knew she was right! Her mother wouldn´t be angry at him – she never had been really angry with Lee, not even when he simply didn´t return from his vacation! With her these things were different! She could never do anything right and just on very few occasions her mother had been at least satisified with her accomplishments! "Yes. That´d be nice." She responded. "Undercover?" she stated the obvious. Ma Ko sighed. "Yes, somebody has to clean up the harbor district. It´s big stuff going on there and… we´ll talk about this later." He interrupted.

"Otherwise we´re standing here until nightfall." He explained. Lin was already marveling about what daisys he had picked. Asides from the fire nation opium traders, the moonshine importers from the kingdoms and some tax evading southerners the harbor district was just known for prostitution and violence amongst sailors! Nothing a captain of organized crime had to deal with personally. They headed down the stairs, Lee trudging behind them. The poor guy doubtlessly was feeling quite insecure. Ma Ko led them to his motorbike, which already was being inspected closely. The teenagers at once stepped back as the tall man came close. "What the fuck am I payin bald Aang for? You bloody streetrats do yer gods damned job an protect the hood! Don´t grope my guests' motorcycles!" Lee griped. "The hell do ya want gramps!" one boy huffed himself up and played with a wooden club. One of his pals simply tore it out of his hands. "Excuse us Mr. Lee. Toad-toe Wan is new in the hood." He smiled politely. Most likely Lee had given some of these kids a proper trashing. Her friend still had to be a quite formidable airbender, even if he had bulked up quite a bit – not in an unattractive way, though.

"Eh showin off in front of yer hoe. Huh?" the kid muttered. While Lee controlled his anger, Ma Ko did not. He spun and delivered a thundering roundhousekick to the brat's face and. Lee went through push the leaves and let out a broad, two handed air blast that sent the rest of the little gang staggering backwards. It was an enormous amount of control he displayed, something a lot of self-proclaimed "Masters" could not do. "Do we have to make problems again?" he addressed Ma Ko in an annoyed tone. The Toad-boy was out cold, barely rolling around on the floor. "You bastards shut yer good fer nothing mouths or I´ll scorch yer pretty faces!" Ma Ko growled. Lee looked quite pissed as well.

"Just get the hell out of here!" Lee patted the bicycle. Lin wordlessly unwound the cable from her waist. "Boys – lets ride to the docks." She responded frowning. "Yeah – that´d be wise. Cause otherwise even yer one month surplus will not save you from serious trouble!" one of the boys responded pointing in Lee´s direction. Her friend frowned. He nevertheless did not respond a single word, since he knew that the boy was right! You couldn´t beat up triad soldiers without getting problems, at least if it happened multiple times. Ma ko just revved up the engine, Lee seated himself behind Chouw, while she seated herself on the fuel tank. Then they drove out. As soon as they entered the hectic traffic of the metropolis Lin was rueful about her choice of seat. Even though she felt like an outlaw on the run she wasn´t feeling comfy since the cars were roaring and honking everywhere. Some people even waved at them, the former Chief of police das clamping her hands deeply into the deformed metal and prayed to ousen the steelbreaker. Ma Ko tried to drive slowly but the traffic of republic city had formed itself into a maelstrom that did not know the word slow anymore. The sporadic traffic regulation officials were helpless against the glinting avalanches that moved across the steadily deteriorating streets. Gravel embedded Cobblestones embedded weren´t made for thousands of cars. Lin frowned as she bounced up and down whenever they hit a bump in the road. When they finally had crossed the governmental district, she wanted to spit over her left shoulder and make seven times seven triangles. The ride had been a silent one, if one could ignore Ma Ko and Lee cursing like the street rats they were! Lin cleared her throat, it seemed the air was getting worse every year, but what could they do? Nobody had proven that the cars were at fault, even if everybody knew!

As they followed the coastal road the view turned enjoyable and Lin remembered why she had loved riding a bicycle with Tenzin. It was so much smoother than walking, there was a breeze in your face and the coast to one side. She wondered when she had felt something like that for the last time. It must have been many years ago, before she was anything but a lowly officer! That was Ma Ko suddenly hit the brakes and she almost sailed of her makeshift seat. "Heavens!" she yipped as the Tank indented itself under her recoiling weight. Being a metalbender was always detrimental to one's machinery, that was one of the reasons why Lin never had used one of the countless gas driven gadgets Bumi had tried to sell her on his vacations. Bumi…it was strange but she wasn´t tearing up. It somehow felt as if Bumi wasn´t well - gone, forgotten, she had no idea. They finally had arrived at Sato Manison, where Asamis Butler was awaiting them. It seemed the old man was especially pleased with Ma ko, while the young man seemed to cringe inwardly. Ma Ko was not happy, or polite, since he didn´t even greet the elderly man. Well – Lin didn´t greet him as well. She had not forgotten that this stupid, hypocritical idiot hat handed her Asamis… swirled nonsense of a self-accusation! She had committed high-treason without a bad conscience. Still – if that old fart even cared half as much about Asami as he said he wouldn´t have delivered this letter to anyone! But hells servants were even more obnoxious than noblewomen or her little sister. Lee was the only one bowing politely while holding himself as if sato mansion was his summer home. Lin sighed inwardly. Such a beautiful garden would never again be her own! Sitting there and painting must be pure joy – with the ever-changing light under the huge cherry-bean trees, the gurgling fountains and crystal-clear ponds. Lee was ignoring them, he eyed the expensive terra-kotta pottery with furrowed eyebrows.

Well, Asami´s house wasn´t suited to bring the young lady on Lee´s good side. Lin wondered if that even was possible, after her subordinates drove her old friend from his home. "W…Well Chief, may I offer you some tea?" Ma Ko asked quite nervous. "Oh… thank you very" Lee chimed in with much gusto. "NO!" Lin growled fierce, the airhead would not wiggle himself out of visiting air temple island with some cheap tricks like staying for tea, inviting himself for supper and feigning a stomachache afterwards! Lee gulped heavily, while ma kos eyes widened for a split second. "Have you already seen my um.. mother." She sounded awkward even in her own ears. Ma Ko ignored the weak assed tone and simply responded with a nod. Lin´s heart was racing in her chest. "AND?" she asked, while fearing the worst. "Well…she´s a very old woman." Ma ko responded diplomatic. "She´s rather silent and when she speaks she´s as salty as a pickled raddish. The only one who can speak more than a few words with her without making her spew obscenities is Me Lo" He admitted truthfully. Her mother – silent? Lin was shocked. Maybe she really was dying! Why had she not decided to get up earlier, her bad conscience responded. Lee just frowned deviant. "That´s common when you´re too old to get laid." He grumbled. "You´d know." Chouw deadpanned. Her friend was taken aback for a second. "Because I think women should pay ME for such services!" He stated triumphantly and huffed his, quite impressive, chest. The life in the countryside definitely had changed Lee as much as the work as a police official had changed herself. He obviously had lost the last remnants of embarrassment. Back in the old days Lee was as disturbed by dirty jokes as she was. They shared the same reason – a mother who always was the target of said jokes. "Haven´t we chitchatted enough?" Lin quirked an eyebrow even if she was feeling quite vulnerable.

Without a doubt she still looked pretty grim! "Well, shouldn´t we bring some kind of present, since we´re not invited. I mean – it´s Tenzin house!" Lee mumbled while nudging Chouw with the elbow. "Oh – that´s a really good idea. Tan surely has some packaged presents ready!" He beamed and disappeared into the house, obviously in an excellent mood. "Lee – what the hell are you pissing your pants for! It´s just my mother!" Lin hissed silently. It wasn´t necessary to show the whole town she had a quarrel. "You promised me to go, now man up and do what you´ve said!" her green eye was blazing. Lee obviously was short of yelling at her, but like hell she cared. He was the one who whined about this whole broken promise thing the most! But she could easier convince Tenzin that meat was delicious than make Lee believe that her mother would laugh at his pathetic behavior! Well – Lin actually didn´t know if her mother would laugh. They had almost become strangers during the last decades. That actually did hurt her but well – that was how things were. Twenty years were a long time and solitude in a swamp didn´t work wonders for your social skills…

Maybe it wasn´t a good idea to go to airtemple island at all. No – it´s too late to be a prissy and back down, she steeled herself. Be a Bei Fong and get things done! She definitely could go to airtemple island without Lee! Lin frowned at nothing in particular. "I´m… you don´t want to understand." Lee sighed while dropping his shoulders. If she hadn´t been on edge herself she definitely would have tried to comfort the man who looked like a soaked coonie. The two admired the garden and avoided further words until Ma ko cheerfully bashed the door open. "here´s the present.." he broke off while noticing the grave mood. He gulped and cleared his throath, obviously unsure about what to do. Lin took the initiative, since Lee most likely was just waiting for an elephant- rat hole to hide himself. Not on my watch! Lin thought. "Thank you Chouw." Even if she sounded quite gruff she felt thankful, it was really sweet of the boy to be so considerate. "But we should get the move on, otherwise my mother might take a nap. It´s lunchtime and nobody wants to disturb a napping Toph Bei Fong – believe me guys!" she responded determined. Actually, the naps were the only times she had been allowed to cuddle her mother, somehow Lin felt guilty about lying so frankly. Ma Ko just went along, while trying to look as neutral and polite as possible.

She could understand quite well that Chouw wanted nothing to do with their family problems. It had to be awkward for him, playing chauffeur for his former boss. Well, even if he did not just consider her his former boss he respected her – it wasn´t right that she showed him a not so respectable side of herself, wasn´t it? Lee just frowned annoyed and followed with balled fists. She noticed he was staring straight ahead. Yumi had told her he always did that when he felt insecure. Lin fidgeted with her wide trousers. Hopefully she was spared the embarrassment of meeting Tenzin, or the children in her current state! Me Lo definitely would make some indecent comments about things he, hopefully, knew nothing about! Tenzin would scold his son and most likely talk her into wearing hilarious looking orange robes. She wasn´t a nun, so the orange cloth wasn´t making her dignified at all. How Tenzin could wear it so casually was something she never would understand. To her it would have been as heavy as her iron armor. Strangely she didn´t miss the weight anymore, her body seemed to have adapted to civilian clothes again, maybe that was good. In the meantime the silence had stretched so long nobody dared to say a word. They had reached the wooden quay where the boat was towed. It was a modern, state of the art speedboat, made from beautifully polished bamali wood. Lin never had…driven… a boat! However, she had always loved to skip about the waves as if she was a jumping pebble. These new sato motor driven boats should make this possible without employing a waterbender. She really looked forward to see if the rumors were true. Some of her former colleagues had owned such boats, but of course they never had invited her for a cruise. The went on board and Ma Ko again fumbled around with some levers and a crank. Suddenly the boat vibrated as the cylinders woke to life with a thundering roar that surpassed every sportscar with a working exhaust pipe! Lee seated himself on one of the white seats, most likely they were clad with Tigerdillo leather. It had the same velvet like touch Lin remembered from her childhood. The boat accelerated very fast, it´s prow parting the small waves of the shivering sea with smacking sounds.

Lee was cramping the chromed railing while Lin leaned herself back comfortably. If she hadn´t been on the way to her mother she might even have enjoyed the ride. The distance towards airtemple island was bridged in a flash. Since the howling engine of the speedboat was something rare and exotic the white lotus guardsmen had sprung into action. Lin wrinkled her brows. This so-called secret society was a bunch of pious children suppressing mongrels! She had heard that they took Korra away from her parents until aunt Katara – most likely due to sheer luck – came behind the devious plans. Furthermore, Lin had never forgotten that the so called "protectors of the Avatar" mostly had been busy running and hiding themselves like rabbiroos as the stonecircles invaded the island. This horrible night, which still gave her nightmares occasionally, had led to the decision that she had to become an officer, that she had to become strong – like her mother. The woman frowned as Ma Ko steered the boat towards the pier and a muscular, green eyed man with a grizzled beard took up the rope. His colleagues were leaning on their spears, eying her warily. It seemed that they did not recognize her, but since Chouw was with them nobody was pointing the glinting speartips at them. Not that Lin was even slightly impressed by the expertly crafted weaponry. "Greetings Mr. Chouw, I guess you and your – acquaintances want to speak Master Tenzin?" Lin wondered. Tenzin never had been one to communicate with suspicious looking people, especially not at home!

"Um.. actually I´m just the chauffeur. Mr. Lee and his friend are expected by Chief Bei Fong." He responded before Lin could interject. That sneaky fireferret had wiggled himself out of the affair masterfully. Lee frowned and jumped out of the boat with much more grace than Lin remembered. It seemed her friend had lost his aversion against boats – and water in general – during the last twenty years. She followed. Some of the guardsmen were eying her intensely, but it seemed they did not look through her disguise. "Excuse me Madam." A roughly forty year old man asked her. "Have we met somewhere? You seem familiar somehow." He responded. Lin started at the man, they had met – she was sure, even if she could not place a name on his face. "Yes, we have." She responded. As soon as the guards heard her voice their eyes widened in shock. "Chief Bei Fong!" "the Mother of faces be blessed!" and similar cheers erupted. Lin was not feeling half as exuberant as the guards.

She wondered – nobody had said a word about her hard-tribal attire! Even Lee looked a tad less annoyed. He remained on the quay until she gestured him to follow. Like an obedient child he heeded her command. Lin frowned. Even as they had stepped a few hundred paces no walls were torn to pieces, no dirt fountains erupted and not even a single boulder was hurled at her from behind a blossoming rhododendron! A silent worry crept into Lins heart, while she strode through Tenzins garden. "look – the Sousanoo temple still has the same dangling brass bells." Lee tried to cheer her up. "Of course it has. This is Tenzins island. I doubt he even bought new linen for the beds!" she remarked snidely. The stress slowly was getting to her. "I guess mother is crouching somewhere behind these bushes and laughs at us." She tried to ensure herself with a hollow voice. She stamped her foot on the ground but Chief Bei Fong wasn´t somewhere close by. Lin stomped again, this time she tried harder. She tried to silence her worries by imagining herself to be as smooth, cool and solid as a polished rock. She could feel the people in the large house and amongst them, was her mother. She was sitting on the floor in the lotus position, obviously meditating.

"She´s meditating!" her voice was shocked and Lee´s face mirrored her thoughts quite adequately. What had happened to Chief Bei Fong! The guards weren´t half as surprised as Lin expected. "Yes – your mother often talks to the spirits. She´s blessed with enlightenment." The younger lotus guard responded. Lin gulped down a snidely remark about her mother being a quirky old hag for most of her days – she knew how to behave after all. "Well- then let´s not keep her waiting." Her voice was grim, even though she felt her knees turning wobbly. She was afraid and ashamed that her mother had to see her like this. Nevertheless, she simply couldn´t have stayed at Lees place. Also, there was a sore place in her chest that hoped, begged for her mother's embrace. Of course, Lin would never admit that to anyone. They approached the house, while even the alkolytes did not stare at them.

That was strange. What also was strange was the fact that a group of merchants was sitting on the green lawns while talking with the alkolytes. "Ah – some of Tenzins little birds are back in the perch." Lee chimed. "What?" Lin asked disturbed. "Ten Ten is spying on the Ling clan. He´s really good at politics I guess." Lee reported dryly. Lin opened her mouth to reply anything. She remained silent. It was startling – the Tenzin she knew, would never have thought of something so – dishonest. While Lin passed by a slim young girl spotted the group. "Uncle Bei Lung, do we have new visitors for daddy?" It was Ikki, Lin tried to turn her head away but miserably failed. As soon as she locked her eye with the girl Ikki trembled, then a theatrically sobbing teenager barreled towards Lin. Ikki would have stumbled past her if she had not intervened. Maybe the poor thing would have hurt herself. As her thin arms wrapped themselves around Lins back she was blushing furiously, while her sight turned blurry. "Shush Ikki. E-Everything is fine." She stuttered while holding the girls as if she was a glowing coal rather than a human being.

Tenzins younger daughter always was on the hysterical side of humanity, so she sobbed even more vigorous as Lin ruffled her hair insecurely. The other people of course also rose form their seats and came near. They, of course, were noisy. Lin had no idea what she should tell these guys, since Ikki muttered a loudly visible "I´m so happy you´re back auntie Lin." Ikki continued sobbing. "Who´s that woman?" One man asked "I didn´t know that Master Tenzin had such a – modern – sister!" "Really, she totally does look earth nation!" another person blabbered. Lin wanted to shout at these indecent nosy bastards, but she simply couldn´t. "Actually she´s just a childhood friend of Master Tenzin. Miss Lin Lei Shong spent quite the time in the mountains of wuji shije. I´m her personal assistant during her stay in Republic city." Lee lied as smoothly as a gurgling spring. Lin managed to nod into the interested faces. "Are you an antopoto…things?" A woman in traditional earthkingdom garb asked. "An Antrophologist? Yes, indeed." Lin responded with a high voice she usually reserved for talking to small children. "Ikki just stared at Lin, who wrapped an arm around her, she really didn´t need to make a scene and unveil that she was Lin Bei Fong.

"Yes, um do you need me miss Lei Shong?" Lee asked. "I do!" she snapped and he sighed at the assembled peoples. "Well, I´m sorry but I have duties to attend to." He responded sounding battered. He followed Lin and Ikki who still was sniffling. Her nose was snot clogged, while glistening tears were adorning her cheeks. Lin had to stifle a dreamy sigh. She would be very happy to have a sweet little daughter like Ikki. Then she remembered Toza and Ikki in the waves – suddenly her desire to have a teenaged daughter was much smaller! The girl sneezed into a handkerchief Lee had decently dragged out of his sleeves. Even if Lin thought he was dressed like an old man without any kind of fashion sense, she had to admit that his huge sleeves were practical! "Where have you been auntie? And why do you look so strange?" Ikki asked startled. Lin sighed. "I´ve been to bad places Ikki and I look like this because I have to." She gulped. It wasn´t right to dull a bright childs mood like this. "But I – I really want to see my mother!" she responded honest. Ikki held her hand, the girl's fingers were almost as big as her own – it was shocking!

Ikki frowned. "Your mother is a difficult person." She responded. Well, that was a huge understatement! "Just because she is worried about you she has no right to beat up Toza!" Ikki growled. Lee just scratched his head, while Lin was embarrassed. That did sound a lot like stressed out Toph Bei Fong and as far as she knew Ikki´s hotheaded boyfriend definitely would bring out her mother's ugly side. "Well I hope she´ll get better and leave soon! She could return to the family estate with you." The girl added brightly. "Well – I don´t think she´ll return..." Lin responded silently. Ikki of course asked her about the house and why her mother would not want to return there but Lin had other things on her mind. She simply strode straight towards the guest wing, not caring that she trampled a few flowers on her way. Lee followed with a stony face, he actually looked scary. Lin could feel her mother's presence in the next room as she finally came to a halt. Ikki stood next to her, waiting for her to open the door. Lee also stood there until he threw back his shoulders and muttered a hurt "Just get this shit over with!" His voice was raspy and he opened the door with a determined motion, while stomping into the room.

Her mother was shaken out of her meditation. She flinched tried to unwrap her legs and spit out a string of courses. "Ya gods damned sickeningly sweet air monkeys don´t get it – right? I JUST WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE!" she blurted with a volume a lot of people weren´t capable of in their prime! Lin automatically took a step back. "Yes Ma am!" she responded as if she was speaking to a superior. In the meanwhile, the old woman had placed her feet on the ground and saw. Suddenly her jaw slacked and her chest started heaving. The hunched over woman stumbled as if she suddenly had lost her footing. Lin reacted without thought and caught her mother, while sinking to her knees. "Fall slow…" the earthy musk that her mother quenched whatever she wanted to say. She pressed the tiny, bony body into her chest without caring about the older womans hilarious stinginess about cuddly daughters. While Lin felt as if mount shije was rumbling off her shoulders her mother started shivering uncontrollably, as if she had been thrown into icy, cold water. "I-I couldn´t see you." Her mother mumbled, her voice sounding even older and manlier than Lin remembered. There was a heavy knot in Lins chest, twisting and turning around. But she bit her Lip, her mother was crying so she had to be strong. Toph Bei Fong was old – she had the right to be weak, hadn´t she? Lee wasn´t watching them, he had turned his back to them and was pinching his nose.

The woman knew that her mother daughter time still was a sore spot for Lee. Most likely he was feeling jealous, also he most likely had watery eyes. Lin was searching for words, there were so many things she wanted to tell her mother. But it was as if her mind had been blown out of her head. "I´ll fetch a chair." Ikki observantly hurried out of the room. She was a sweet child, regardless of her mother wailing about her daughter behaving far too adult for her age. While Lin just bathed in her mother's presence Toph Bei Fong had regained her composure. she suddenly muttered an incomprehensible apology while unwrapping her arms from her daughter. Lin didn´t release her mother who frowned the content frown. Lin was still baffled about the haggard face her mother displayed. She also was smelling quite strongly. She was covered in dust and fat that clung to her like a second skin. Lin wrinkled her nose. "You really should take a bath." She complained. He mother started laughed a grumbling laugh. "You´re hilarious Miss clanky clank!" she barked. Lin was too happy to complain about her mothers teasing. Suddenly pain shot through her right cheek. "Oww." She flinched under her mother's touch. "W-What has happened to your face!" Toph Bei Fong was obviously shocked. "What are these metal beads! A-And what's with your cheek?" her voice rose in a protective timbre. Lin shuddered and tried to step away as the guilt and shame flooded into her.

"I- I´m so sorry!" she was kneeling on the floor before anybody could interfere. "I-I-I brought shame to the name. P-Please forgive this unfilial daughter mother!" the iron taste of blood filled her mouth as she suppressed any kind of emotion, nevertheless heavy tears were dripping out of her eye. Toph Bei Fong stood dumbfounded. "eh – what?" her voice was flat and emotionless. "Get up – Lin." She commanded. "Please forgive this shameful, pathetic child." Lin Bei Fong begged while trying to bow low. She felt the need to apologize, because she never, never had wanted to disappoint her mother! But she had disappointed her, she had destroyed the Bei Fong legacy. Her mother softly gripped her shoulders and prevented her from hitting her head on the floor. "Lin, please don´t be like that." Her mother´s voice was hoarse. "You´ll never be a shame to me." she added. "B-but I – I was weak. And I destroyed your legacy!" Lin accused herself with conviction. Somehow it felt good to let out some of the frustration and hurt she had locked up inside her chest. Her mothers' words made her heart leap into her throat. "pfft - shut up Linny – I´m just so relieved that you´re still alive! I – I prayed so much that you´ll be save..." her mother's voice broke as the groaning old woman also lowered herself onto the floor and tilted her daughters head upwards.

Those words were spoken gentle, nevertheless they thundered in Lin´s head as she shielded her face from her mother. She didn´t know what to say anymore, her mother had torn away her resolve and left her wide open. "I ´m sorry for what you´ve gone through Lin, I – I´ll be doing all I can to help. You´ve lost your job, your colleagues - everything you worked so hard for…" Toph Bei Fong still was able to blush in her golden years. "Um… ya know chrm.. that you´re my beloved daughter - I mean." She stuttered. Lee was sneezing in his handkerchief while still studying the wall of the room. Lin just squeezed her mother who muffled a groan as some of her vertebrae popped back in their natural positions.

"Thank you mommy, thank you I – I never wanted to disappoint you like this." She whimpered sniffling. "GODS DAMMIT! You´ve disappointed nobody you stupid dumbass!" Lee suddenly fumed. "Lee? Is that – you?" a shocked Toph bei Fong was short of fainting, she looked quite pale in her daughters embrace. "How the hell can I be seeing two spectres today – am I dead?" she was wondering with a serene expression settling on her ancient features. "No – I´m not." Lee responded in a raspy voice. "I´ve.. " Lee obnoxious approach of an apology was canceled by a genuinely puzzled old woman. "I- I mean, I thought you were dead! You and Yumi – since well, I couldn´t see you with the vines to begin with!" she paused " Seems the dragon veins are some unreliable liars as well!" she stated marveling. Then she eyed Lee closer. Her eyes widened. "You´ve really come a long way since we last met haven´t cha? You´re feeling like a totally different person, even more than Linny!" Lee gulped visibly. Lin tried to reassure him with a wobbly smile. Her friend hat changed a lot, however it was a miracle how her mother noticed that at the first glance. Well, most likely that was one of the secrets of the peerless earthbender. It seemed the people had called her mother the child of Oma an Shu for a reason.

Authors note: Dear readers, I know you are quite few, but that was to be expected since I´m a quite unreliable writer. Well, I finally did my . (with a quite excellent mark) so that´s a little present for those who stuck with this story despite all odds. I guess I now can start having a private life again, which means I´ll (hopefully) upload chapters more fequently. If you have any feedback, good or ill, feel free to PM me.

With best wishes InTheHood


	31. Interlude: spiritual disturbances

Interlude: Spiritual disruption

The young woman was nervous, partially because she wore traditional earth nation attire. If it had at least been the cotton padded armor of a kyoshi warrior she would not have felt a lot more secure. Avatar Korra was used to speaking in front of large crowds, but she hadn´t spoken in front of a parliament before. She was the bridge between worlds and no bloody politician like Tenzin! Of course, her mentor had written a speech for her but Korra could not memorize the neatly filled pages. Her body servant was preparing a rather complicated hairstyle that involved silken bands, an overly ornate headpiece and long strands of attached horsehair. At least she was able to decline the elaborate makeup Mai had proposed. Korra would not have survived the multiple layers of powders, salves and heavens knows what that the high society smeared all over their skin. The avatar stared at her lacquered nails that shone a radiant purple, the color of godliness and high standing. She despised purple! The last two months had been very stressful and slowly Korras nerves were wearing thin. She was travelling without stop and even if she was used to a life on the roadside, she definitely was not used to holding speeches in front of booing audiences. The people of the earthern nations were an unhappy and cynical populace, even if just the lowliest of peasants were honest enough to express these feelings. They distrusted anything – that much the avatar had found out. There were many that, more or less, mourned the fall of Kuvira and the end of their nation's militaristic expansion. On the other hand, a similar amount of people wanted their godly emperor back, or at least a godly queen if said emperor preferred singing bad jazz songs over ruling his nation! While the countryside bumpkins did not even understand what she was talking about – even if they held far too much respect for the godly Miss avatar to voice their lack of understanding – this was not the case for Ba Sing Se. And she was in Ba Sing Se now! The citizens of the great city obviously were more interested in democracy than the rest of the kingdoms. That might´ve been the case because a lot of scholars, officials and wealthy merchants were living here. Huge crowds assembled in front of the earth palace, which now was called the "palace of the people". They were waiting for the public debate of the parliament, which was held twice a month.

Meanwhile the Avatar was looking in her teachers notes. Tenzin hadn´t written complete sentences, how was she supposed to make a fluid speech out of this mess! "Please hold your head straight your godliness!" the servant chided Korra in a motherly tone. She obeyed the command, while heavy jade needles were shoved through her hair. Now she wasn´t able to continue checking the notes of her former master. It took a felt eternity until the servant concluded with a polite "I am finished your godliness." "Finally!" Korra blurted while she stared at the strange woman in the mirror. THAT definitely was not her! The woman's hair was twisting and turning like a heap of brownish sand-vipers held together by meters of silver-wire, four jade -needles and an ornate headpiece that contained more diamonds and agates than the treasury of the southern water-tribe. She wore a completely purple robe that contained so many brocade-strings that it´s weight would have driven Korra to her knees if she hadn´t done her fair share of exercise. Nevertheless, the robe, and the five layers of undergarments, also shaded in differing tones of purple, led to her feeling like visiting a sweating hut. Her servant left the room, bowing deeply with every step. It was astonishing how Mai managed to precisely find the artfully carved wooden door while walking backwards. Korra sighed deeply as the servant had exited. Her travels to the earthern nation had turned out to be fundamentally different from what she had expected. Tenzin had been quite on spot with his rambling about etiquettes and formalities she severely lacked. Now she was painfully aware of that. The influential people of course were not taking her serious because of such trivialities. Korra rose, while the tiny plateau shoes, which easily were three times as big as common women´s shoes in the nations, still primped her toes together in a quite unpleasant way. She rose with trippling steps, nobody would be able to walk normally in these things, which made the avatar at least three spans taller than she was.

A servant entered in the dressing room. "Your godliness. The Dragon of the north, our high General Tang Il Sung requests to bath in the godlinesse´s beauty!" the man bowed deeply. "I´m awaiting the ahm.. the handsome and dignified master of Tang Il." She waved her hand as dismissively as possible. She still looked more like a tomboy swatting away an imaginary fly than a lady of standing. Damnit, Korra had had no idea that it could be so difficult to behave like some pampered noble girl! Luckily her dark skin prevented her from blushing. She hadn´t ever called anybody a "handsome and dignified master" in her whole life, but royal Guang Zhu was bursting with such embarrassing phrases.

An invitation to a garden party read itself like a bloody romance novel in these parts of the world! The general entered in well measured, small steps. He was by no means a handsome master, Tan Il Sung was not much taller than Korra. He had a large belly, a round head and broad features. However, he was a well-mannered and educated gentleman. This was more than could be said for the majority of the nobles the Avatar had met so far. If she had any direct political power she would have sent most of these pricks into labor camps to teach them some humility and decency! He bowed perfectly. "Your godliness." There was a hint of a smile playing around his lips. "You look like a princess under blossoming cherry trees." He responded undoubtedly referring to one of the innumerable poems every noble had to recite in his, or her, youth. The Avatar tried to repeat the bow but wobbled unsteadily on her feet. "Uah.." she was waving her hands around like a helpless toddler, while trying to regain her balance. The general caught her hands and steadied her without his expression changing slightly. "I suppose your godliness should not bow in the current attire. Such requires long years of training. Since your ancestors originate from the southern wastes nobody will expect you to behave like a lady of standing." The general responded in a neutral voice. "Just who came up with these stupid shoes!" Korra fumed in a hushed voice. The general still kept a blank face. "They became fashionable roughly four hundred and seventy years ago as the seventh concubine of…" Korra interrupted the general.

"Please Sung, not NOW! I´ve got to speak in front of the friggin parliament – on the radio! And I´ve no bloody clue if the guys will throw stones or cushions at me! I´m in no mood to listen to your monologues about long dead concubines right now!" Korra rambled. The general smiled a tiny bit. "You´ll manage, this is Ba Sing Se! We´re not as backwater as the people from the great plains! Our citizens remember that you´re the one who brought their deported friends and relatives back. The most of them at least..." He responded with a grim face that did not fit to his, rather jolly, nature. Surprisingly Tang Il Sung was an excellent tactician and commander, even though he barely was able to slice up tatami mats for more than five minutes.

Korra gulped as she remembered the earth twisting and turning under her feet, the stomping of platoons of well-trained benders and the creaking of the even more frightening walkers and iron-suits. Up till the present day they did not know how many people died during Kuviras invasion and her conquest of the kingdoms. However, the avatar knew that it were thousands and that made her feel sad and angry. The stubborn rockheads had learned nothing from this! "No – not really." She gulped dryly, her eyes looking glassy and far away. "The people did stop the invasion, the only thing I did was, opening a spirit portal that should never have been opened and preventing a madwoman from razing Rep City to the ground." She responded bluntly. "Yes – I do that on daily basis Korra. When I´m in the mood I also beat Wan Shi Tong in our daily Pai Sho meetings." the general remarked dryly. His sudden outburst of sarcasm should have made her feel better, but it didn´t. Korra realized that she, indeed, had toppled an absolutistic government and now she was trying to install a democratic one. She did not like the aftertaste that left on her tongue. She was supposed to be a mediator between spirits and humans, not a leader of nations. "Thanks." She sighed deeply. "Let´s just get this over with!" Korra responded while forcing herself to look dignified. "We´ll win this battle your godliness." The general radiated calm, he obviously trusted her to be successful. He pulled on one of the silver-wrapped cords that were running throughout the whole palace. These cords were connected to tiny brass bells that alerted the servants and told them where they were needed. This century old system was the main reason for the vast superiority of the service quality in the nations.

It took merely the blink of an eye until a livre wearing manserf opened the door for the general and the avatar. Korra followed Sung with the tiny tripling steps of a noble lady.

She tried to not look outright ridiculous but she had the strong feeling that wasn´t going well. They were led through the maze of corridors that separated the guest wing from… another wing. The number of armored soldiers increased almost exponentially and servants hurried around busily, carrying trays, platters and pottery. The servants were so hectic many of them did not notice the avatar, the general and their suddenly present escort of four liberation force soldiers. Where these men had appeared from was unclear to Korra, but since they wore the emblems of the company 28, which was one of the local regiments, she did not feel suspicious. She waved almost shyly at the servants that fell to their knees, while the avatar passed. Finally, she recognized the huge porcelain vases that adorned the corridor before the former throne- room. The blazing red, gold and emerald that were present everywhere made her feel unimportant and small. The soldiers removed crossed guandaos that were almost as heavy as Korra herself. The weapons were so overly ornate and ridiculously sized that everybody who was not a proficient metalbender would destroy his spine by trying a single swing. The huge wooden doors were opened and a thundering voice introduced the avatar to the assembled politicians. "Honorable members of the parliament of the earthern union of lands… her godliness Avatar Korra of the southern watertribe!" she was announced. Korra thought she could simply walk on and ignore the low bowing members of the pairlament, but Tang Il Sung prevented that by moving his voluptuous figure in the way. "The spirit bridge, the pillar of the united republic. The world binder and liberator of our people – we all are greatly honored to be in her godly presence and listen to her enlightened words." Korras face was flushed as crimson as it could get. She never had been hailed like that and it made her really embarrassed.

Besides the general and the guards everybody was facing the floor and therefore could not see the flustered expression on her face. The unseen voice continued speaking. "Previously the honorable member Tian Kai Chek from the national party of Ba Sing Se has given us his views about the future of the earthern union. We thank him for his wise and dignified speech. Now the godly Avatar herself will bestow her vision of the earthern union upon us humble mortals."

Korra had to use all her willpower to prevent herself from frowning as she walked towards the podium on which the jade throne had been located. Today just an overly ornate bookrest was standing there, which was almost blasphemy for at least ninety percent of the earth nations populace. Her feet were burning like fire while she climbed the ornate wooden stairs to the throne plateau. The throne itself had been broken and burned after the earthqueens demise. Actually, Korra did not feel sorry for the self-centered tyrant. A woman who executed people for not bowing according to royal protocol should have seen a lynch mob coming for her! She turned to face the audience and steadied herself on the bookrest. Her notes had remained, somewhere between the dressing room and her current position. She would have to wing her speech, like she usually did. Korra cleared her throat as her heart was fluttering. She still hated holding speeches. " I am honored by your attention and kind words, even more so since I am a foreigner to these lands. Therefore, I humbly beg your forbearance for not being able to speak the civilized tongue like a lady of the nations." She begun with her common apology statement. In the earthern nations everybody tried to be humble, even if that sounded utterly arrogant in Korras ears! "We all listened to the words of the esteemed head of the taxation office Tian Kai Chek. And I would like to rehearse something he said." Her eyes scanned the room for the middle aged intellectual.

"The esteemed head of the taxation office may correct me if I did not comprehend his words correctly – he stated that a government driven by the dignified citizenry of the nations is the only way for further economic growth. He enlightened us with a lot of numbers that showed that, since the end of the ursurpers reign, the overall taxation income of the Ba Sing Se province rose an astonishing forty percent, even though the taxation rates were not changed at all. I am impressed at the diligence of the province´s citizenry, whose joined efforts enabled this impressive feat. As far as I know this even surpasses the economic growth the firenation experienced at the beginning of the great war!" Korra let the words sag in, also she had to figure out what she should tell her audience now. "We have to ask ourselves -why is this the case? Do you have any suggestions honorary members of the parliament?" she paused again, nobody dared to raise his voice. So Korra continued "It´s because no longer a man´s birth decides his financial success. Due to the government being elected by the productive members of society the most able men, and even women, are allowed to lead this nation. And nobles who do not adhere to the principle of noblesse obliges are excluded from the government and the offices. I understand that those of you, who hail from ancient families may be afraid of the changes this government without the protection of a godly emperors brings forth."

Some of the blue-blooded members nodded with severe expressions on their faces. Korra sighed internally. "But, is this really the tradition and hopeless dream of desperate peasants? NO – IT IS NOT!" her voice thundered through the room and actually some of the conservatives flinched at her eloquence. "In the seventh book of founding the highly esteemed teacher of the empire, Kung Loa Tse repeats what the first emperor Shin the godly declared. A man of the blood who does not serve the greater good with heart, body and soul shall be treated like the lowliest of peasants, while a peasant who works to the fullest of his abilities shall be rewarded by his liege, with a surname and the dignity that goes with it." Korra silently thanked her teacher for drumming all this information in her head. "And that is exactly what I wish for the future of the earthern union. I wish that the nobles and merchants of the numerous kingdoms determine their future together, not in fear of a godly emperor but because they – you – are convinced that it is the right decision for the nations and its citizens. These are not just my wishes, but also those of the second prince Ming Wu. The rightful heir to the jade throne emphasized his vision of a strong and independent earthern nation governed by this parliament quite directly." She elaborated. "Sadly, not everybody in power is of the opinion that the wishes of crown prince Wu, the only LEGITIMATE heir to the jade throne, should be respected. The lords of Chu Da dare not only to disrespect the authority of this government, which was accepted by the city gods, the spirits, the people of Ba Sing Se and forty-three provinces… NO, they even ignore the first and only ORDER of the man who should be their godly emperor! They decline the birthright of prince Wu, while relying on the blood ties to his ancestors for their own right on the throne? This is hypocrisy! Every educated man has to agree with me that, if the Ling clan had any integrity, they had to respect the final command of prince Wu, or they at least should have the face to admit what they are – ursurpers, like Kuvira and Chin the Conqueror!" A murmur was running through the pairlament, nobody had dared to offend the Ling clan like this, at least not in public.

But this only showed that Korra of the southern watertribe was worthy of her titles, that she was unafraid of the opponents of Ba Sing Se and the union. "So, I ask you honorable members of the pairlament, dignified officials and Lords of the kingdoms – are you cowards? Or are you men with principles, integrity and face?" The woman's voice rose and Korra had forgotten that she was speaking to a large crowd. She was speaking her heart and this had lit a fire in her words that held more sway over people than artificially crafted sentences. "I know that I am just the avatar, a bridge between nations and worlds. I know it is not my place to speak up, but I can´t be silent! My conscience forbids it! I´ve been showed what may happen if you do nothing against the Ling dynasty. I´ve been told of Bu Shin, dark spirits and Wu dang practitioners that celebrate forbidden rites under the dark moon. I know that the Ling clan, in it´s desire for power does not step back from things that should not be meddled with. I know that these despicable princes even allow madmen in their army – for the sake of power alone! They act like the firenation did under Ozai the butcher! They care about neither the spirits, nor their own subjects. Married women are raped by their lieges' soldiers in broad daylight, honest working farmers and craftsmen are deported to forced labor until they die from exhaustion! Servants are whipped to death because they delivered the tea in a wrong cup! That is the cruel reality in the plains, ask the travelling merchants, ask the refugees that come to the united Republic and your city! Is that the proper etiquette for men of standing, nowadays?" Korras knuckles were turning white as she gripped the bookrest. "I really tried to find a compromise, to be the mediator I should be. But the spirits forgive me – I can not and I don´t want to!" Korra frowned angrily as she remembered her only meeting with an emissary of the clan. "The emissary of the Ling did not talk about politics, instead he smoked opium and asked me how much money I would charge for my private parts! Naturally, I may have lost my composure and behaved not ladylike at all." Korra gulped down her rage. The majority of the auditorium was shocked. Everybody who meddled in politics knew that Avatar Korra was not very subtle in her opinions, still – nobody had expected her to be so brutally honest. The parliament never had heard such a speech before. However, they were captivated by the young woman who was ranting in righteous fury.

"Shall we stand aside and watch as the marauding troops of the Ling clan march against our cities, burn our villages, rape and murder to their hearts content? Because that is what Wu dang practitioners do - that´s the reason the knowledge of Wu Dang techniques is punished by beheading – you all know that!" many of the parliament members were shrinking to the size of squirrel toads. "No, we´ll not let that happen." The general and a few other men voiced their protest quite eloquently. Still, Korra noticed how dire the situation was. The parliament of the earthern union was powerless, even more so than the government of the Republic. These men were only talking about making politics, while they mostly drove forward the agendas of their respective factions. Korra had no idea how she should convince them that the earthern union had to stand as one if they wanted to keep their titles and privileges! She breathed heavily and was at a loss of words.

Suddenly there was a pressure in Korras head, a searing pain that flashed through every fiber of her being. She recoiled and groaned but suddenly she floated in the air and whitish light was dancing through the hall of the throne room. It was not her voice, but the voice of hundreds that thundered, while the young woman watched herself through eyes that were not hers anymore. Korra tried to regain the control of her body but Rava was holding the reigns with iron hands. "I am the Avatar, my duty transcends nation und politics. I am the world and the world is ME! Whoever dares to use the dark arts for the gain of power has to be stopped at any means necessary. Listen well Lords of the Ling clan – step down and bow low in front of the parliament – punish the beasts you have nurtured and dissolve your armies. If you have not done so until the month ends that means war, war against the Avatar herself and all she stands for!" Rava thundered, while Korra yelled and struggled. What nonsense was Rava spouting, she couldn´t go to war. She didn´t have an army and furthermore she was not supposed to make such decisions all by herself! Still, what frightened Korra most was the fact that the spirit of order deemed it necessary to involve herself in this struggle. The spirit hadn´t even done that while Vaatu tried to force himself into this world, or when the firenation waged a war that lasted a hundred years! What kind of thing could be more threatening than ten thousand years of utter chaos? Rava was not interested in letting Korra go, she continued. "Children of the earth – I call you forth into a holy war to defend the balance of your nation and the world! Korra – We – fought so hard to attain a peaceful future for the four nations. The worlds have merged and while the spirits of lands and cities are at ease and bless the righteous, the desires of vile men give birth to demons who seek to destroy our very existence. These blind fools in Chu Da think they can control the hungry hordes of the ninetynine pits. They can´t, nobody can! This war is not just about the fate of your government, it is about the fate of the world. Be aware of that leaders of the kingdoms! It is your decision if this world is to fall into darkness or rise back to the heights of the creation days."

Suddenly the glow faded and Korra crashed downwards, a stinging pain jolted through her ankle. She let out a muffled cry and gripped the bookrest tightly. "Fuck! Bloody monkey feathers!" The avatar cursed, while her head was spinning. The guards that had been standing before the podium hurried upstairs and grabbed her arms as if to steady her. In truth they wanted to remove her from the public before the Avatar did raise a rampaging mob that looted the ling Clans city homes. Of course, the possessions of other noble families would be endangered as well if the plebs decided to make a ruckus. "Lady Avatar, please follow us." Korra was ordered. "Y-Yes." Korras voice was weak and lacked any kind of protest. She herself agreed with the soldiers – riots never solved anything, and since city deities were something real, she wasn´t keen on pacifying some demonized Buddhas – if she even could do this!

"I-I´m sorry, that wasn´t me. I -I really didn´t want to start a war." She frantically tried to assure the soldiers, who suddenly turned as white as sheets and formed the triangle to ward off the evil. The veterans didn´t respond anything and led her to the dressing room. The door was closed and bolted. Korra chuckled, as if these fragile walls would be able to hold her. With a frustrated snarl she removed the overly ornate shoes from her feet and tossed them aside carelessly. She let out a groan of relief as her toes wiggled in the open air. So, what should she do? How should she explain herself to the parliament? And what effect would her words have? She had made severe mistakes in the past and the people hadn´t forgiven her for that, still she was the Avatar, which meant that the conservatives worshipped her as a deity, an almost omnipotent one at that. Of course, the ambitious members of the parliament would love to employ her for their personal agenda. But finally she could not evade taking sides anymore, something had to happen! They needed to assemble an army, one that contained as many priests, ghost-hunters and shamans as possible! The ninetynine pits, Korra shivered by the lone thought that something, anything from these realms could force it´s way into the material world. And if the crooked prince really did mingle with demons and dark spirits the army needed people that were able to send the otherworldy abnormities back to where they came from! She could not be everywhere and even if she was the avatar there were many people that were better at exorcising demons than she was – despite her gifts! She yelled in frustration and toppled a tiny dressing chair. "Fuck – you´ve fucked everything up Korra!" she was furious at Rava – what did this damned spirit think? She picked up the stool and seated herself on it, while burying the face in her hands. Why wasn´t her father here? She would have loved to give herself a good cry in his arms right now! But, as always, he wasn´t there since she was the bloody, damn avatar! Korra gulped down the tears that were burning in her eyes.

She should have never tried to get Rava back, Korra sighed in despair. The time flew by slowly, obviously the elite of Ba Sing Se had decided to punish her with ignorance. Now she might have lost the feeble support she had had in General Tang Il Sung. Hopefully the citizens of the city didn´t take out their pent-up anger because she stirred them up. She didn´t know what was going on outside of this room, this was something that angered the young woman. She snorted as she wiggled herself out of the expensive robes and tossed them aside. At least she no longer had to look like a wrong colored porcelain doll! Korra was furiously snarling and tugging on the numerous silken strings out of her hair as somebody knocked on the door. Korra froze. She stood there in her undergarments and looked like an unkempt savage. "NO!" she jelled embarrassed. Hopefully the damn servants were decent and did not enter despite her protest. There was a short pause "Oh please – don´t be overly dramatic your godliness!" It was a deep voice that Korra had heard at some point in the past. She could not put a face, or even a name to the voice. "I´m not behaving dramatic - I´m naked!" Korra snapped in a shrill voice. Her visitor remained silent at this remark. "Are you ready to greet a gentleman right now your godliness?" the man asked in a polite tone, while Korra was quickly fastening her trousers. Even if said blue attire was highly inappropriate in the kingdoms, she had decided to wear the clothes that gave her a feeling of home, even ainthe most distant places. Korra tried to order her hair, which was puffed up and disorderly after her yanking out the silken bands. She looked around hastily, but was not able to find her hairband. Hopefully her visitor had not decided to leave, since the arrogant avatar did not want to see him. "You may enter now." She responded in a high voice.

"As you command your godliness." The man responded, while the wooden bolt was removed and the door was opened by a manserf. The visitor was an elderly member of the parliament, he obviously was quite flustered to see Korra like he did. She didn´t look properly at all, she was wearing pants! Korra had to suppress a playful chuckle, this old man looked quite adorable while fighting for his noble composure. But since he had not caught her attention previously, she assumed he was no faction leader or another important member of the parliament – which made his visit all the more interesting. "Please excuse – this." Korra pointed at the scattered clothes. "My sudden entering of the avatar state has left me a bit confused." The young woman tried to excuse herself. "As if I were allowed to criticize your godliness." The man bowed humbly. "No, I was sent here because the parliament wants answers your godliness. And not just the parliament." He trailed off. "Who else would want answers?" Korra asked startled. The parliament was the official political authority, so who else would openly demand information from her? "My people – those of the seven villages… I´m talking about this your godliness." He rolled up his sleeve and exposed a surprisingly wiry looking arm. Korra furrowed her brows as she noticed the brand that had been accurately placed at the center of his forearm – it was a complex, ancient looking pattern of circles, polygons and spirals that looked quite confusing. She had never seen something like this. "And what´s that supposed to be? Are you kidding me?" the avatar asked skeptical. The man was slightly annoyed at her lack of knowledge. "The white lotus training seems to be very lacking in the aspects of spirituality and tradition." He stated dryly. "Tell me something I don´t know." Korra was short of yelling. Her head still felt as if it was stuffed with rice straw! "You have heard about the Bu Shin haven´t you your godliness?" he asked almost desperate. Korra giggled. "Yes – they´re a quite funny troupe of wannabe ghostbusters and pseudo priests that scam superstitious people." She gave her personal opinion. She could not believe that the rugged, eccentric people that called themselves Bu shin were anything else but a bunch of ex-soldiers trying to make a living without honest work. The old man looked quite offended. These people surely had nothing to do with the plains of doubt and the fierce spirits of warlords that were residing there with their guardian spirits. The old man snapped his fingers sharply to gain the Avatars attention. "You´re quite narrowminded for a young lady, your godliness." He responded. Korra refrained from pouting and contradicting him. "You know how closely linked the spirit realms and the mortal plains are. You restored the bond in the first place." He paused. "You´re the only Avatar brave enough to restore true balance, but of course this leads to change. And change is mostly violent, which might explain the troubles of the recent years." He lectured her. Korra felt a blush creeping in her cheeks, it wasn´t often people praised her. Not since she had opened the third spirit portal. "Well – um – I – I don´t have a clue where you´re getting at." She stuttered. "I´m a Bu Shin. One of the true Bu Shin of Wuji Shije your godliness." He paused. "Since you know nothing Avatar Korra, I will tell you a story. A story that might explain you why Raava did, what she did today." He plopped himself down into the lotus position with a surprising agility for an old man. Korras pulse sped up – there were people who actually knew what happened to her today!

"Please tell me." she instinctively gripped the old man's shoulders and locked eyes with him before realizing that was highly improper. The old man blushed deeply at the sudden closeness of the avatars face. "Chrm… your godliness – manners please!" he responded. "Oh – right. I´m sorry Mr." she responded informal. "Call me Master Feng, because that´s my title in the village." Her responded with gleaming eyes. He contemplated for a moment. "There was a time when giant turtle spirits dwelled in our sees and forests. The world was young and full of wild spirits." The old man began with a familiar, more than ten millennia old tale. "That´s what the priests commonly tell you. The turtle spirits were ancient and most likely the first spirits to form an ego, a pesona." Korra blinked dumbfolded. "It´s difficult to explain but you have felt that the spirit world does form around you rather than that it´s just there like the corporeal world." He muttered. Korra nodded in understanding. She had felt worlds changing around her in the deeper realms, she had pacified dark spirits by engulfing their slithery energy with the warmth of happy memories and calm. Of course, the Avatar, and anybody else she knew, were far away from being able to explain what exactly happened there because it was something fundamentally different. It did not follow the laws of physics and even contradicted the electromagnetic bending theory, as Asami had tried to explain her. Korra was not much interested in academics, but it seemed that the spirit mumbo jumbo she concocted had something to do with higher dimension and more than three spatial directions. She had no idea how that should be possible! "Yes, I – I know that." She affirmed the man. "Actually that´s the case because the spirit realms itself are not describable in our three directions and hence also do not contain substance or elements like we know from the corporeal world. Still the spirits are interested in us, or rather we are attracted to them, to the creators of our world. I will not embark on philosophical musings with your godliness here. Just keep in mind that the spirits that interact with the world are most likely trying to be something like a human, something that is not just cosmic energy but something with a purpose, a duty and an identity. Just like Rava , who tries to be the human value of order, tradition and light." He went silent. Korra felt the weight of his words but had no idea where this conversation was heading. didn´t the old man say he wanted to avoid philosophical rambling? "A lot of spirits were inspired by the presence of rocks, plants and animals, hence the ludicrous amount of nature spirits. The presence of the spiritual energy led to the forests growing and the animals prospering, in return the chi of the land supported the growth of the guardian deities. This is the oldest meaning of yin and yang chi." The man sighed at Korras quite startled face. Still he continued. " Lateron this concept of interwound opposites was translated to human relationships, war and peace,male and female… you can see that it stands at the core of cosmos.

Somewhere in time humans came into being and they were a much greater source of energy for the spirits than animals. That´s because humans also have an ego, like spirits. We mortals can become ghosts, something similar to a demon, and the enlightened ones actually become gods. We are not that different from the spirits as we think. The first to take an interest in humankind were the lion-turtles. They became a sort of teacher for humankind, maybe they even created us – who knows?" Korra blinked in astonishment. "The first cities were built on the lion turtles who gave the humans the ability to control chi, who enabled them to bend the elements. With that something very significant happened – something that shook the world in it´s very core." The old man waited for Korras response. "I´ve no idea? City gods formed?" she guessed vaguely. This whole spirit mumbo jumbo never would be her strong suit. Master Feng chuckled. "Yes, that also happened. Much more important was the fact that the spirits, for the first time during their existance were faced with something that could change them against their will, the human mind." He closed his eyes. Korra scratched her head – the human mind did change spirits? How bonkers was that? The mother of faces was just the mother of faces and Koh the face stealer was Koh the face stealer! "But Koh the face stealer is evil and monstrous – so how come he´s still there! Nobody want´s a monster that can steal your face in a moonless night!" she exclaimed. "And I´ll not start with the demons and the ninetynine hells!" she accused the old man. "Oh my child – you´re truly adorable." He chuckled to himself, making the avatar blush again. "I´m NOT adorable – I´m a grown woman!" Korra grumbled. "The answer to that is easy – there are a lot of humans who want Koh to be evil, there are people with perverted desires, murderers' rapists, thieves and the likes. Some sects even worship demons MAKING them real!" he responded. Korra seemed to get a faint idea of understanding. The old man groaned and cleared his throath. " Let me give you an example. The republic policeforce believes that their headquarters are protected by Ousen the Steelbreaker! They all think he as razor shaped hands, huge teeth and looks outright hilarious! Even if it´s just a mere century since they started believing this – Ousen the steelbreaker has already stopped some criminals from escaping the jail during Kuviras invasion!" he responded. Korra gasped.

"All this spiritual energy of ours links us with other the energies of our surroundings, it shapes us and it shapes the spirits." He explained." The Avatar just is present because every person in the world believes it, too. Rava and you becoming one – that also is the result of a man's resolve." He stated accurately. "It is because a man named Wang thought it possible to contain a spirit in his body. And he was so good at truly believing that he willed the worlds chi to make it that way." The old man nodded serene and Korra gulped dryly. "Another example. The separation of the world from its elemental realms also was something just enabled by an enormous amount of spiritual energy that created an artificial barrier. It was building that barrier that killed the first avatar and led to a war between the growing civilizations of the four nations, enraged nature spirits and traditionalists." He knacked his knuckles. Korra listened eagerly, besides Lady Katara nobody had dared to teach her in such an unorthodox way. "The Lion turtles disappeared as well and the humans remained to truly conquer this world. However, the spirits were not fading away, maybe because they still were worshipped as deities and maybe because the barrier Wang erected was nowhere near to being impenetrable. It waned especially when the pull between the worlds was greatest, on a moonless night and on a foggy morning." He elaborated. Korra nodded, even today the spirits were most powerful in such a time. "You might understand better why the ritual is what connects us to the spirits and grants us the power to banish them, or call them." He looked at Korra expectantly but the avatar still had no clue. She shrugged wordlessly. The man opened his eyes. "Through ritual we humans control our spiritual force in the higher realms, it is the only way we can control our chi, like the spirits do in every waking hour. The bending forms, all part of a ritual to bend the chi of stone, fire, water and air." He turned silent. "You´re talking as if humans could be something godlike." Korra commented dryly. The man chuckled "We can, because we have both surpassed our mere mortal spirituality, you because you were born the Avatar and me – because I trained very hard." Korra gasped in astonishment as ethereal, reddish flames wavered around the old man who opened crimson glowing eyes. "Whoa!" Korra felt a stirring in her head, but she grit her teeth. Rava was tethering on the borders of her mind again, but this time she would not let the spirit take over her mind. "I am a son of the rainbow your godliness. We people of Wuji Shije never forgot the old ways and we always were close to the spirits. We are one with the world and that makes us warriors second to none. This is the reason why our mountains never were conquered by the lowlanders and why we are still ruled by the lady of the falls." He stated. The old man's voice was much deeper and somehow unnaturally loud. Then he sighed and was the same jolly looking old fellow again. No traces of reddish glow left. The avatar was startled, did this man just imply that the people of the southern mountains would be able to subdue any army they wanted to?

"Erm… do you say that your people could – conquer the kingdoms?" she cocked an eyebrow. He shook his head. "I wouldn´t go this far, there aren´t many that are willing to become a spirit-sword. That is the ancient meaning of the word Bu shin." He explained. "And even less have what it takes. It is very dangerous to face the trial. Usually one of five applicants returns from the top of mount Wuji and not all that return remain themselves. Some of them are twisted perversions of their former self – monstrosities that must be killed. And others – are touched by the spirits and leave their homes to thrive in the world. Some of them even might be the men you see exorcising ghosts for a living." he furrowed his brows. Korra felt there was something else he did not tell her. "And – you also have a Raava?" Korra wanted to know. The old man chuckled. "No, a true Bu Shin relies solely on his own strength." He responded with a hint of arrogance. Korra eyed the old man more closely and wiped her nose. He wasn´t telling her everything. "Come on, no nonsense anymore. I know that the Bu Shin have something to do with the plains of doubt, shang gri la and some kind of dragon spirits!" Korra responded. Now the mans jaw dropped. "How would the Avatar know the secrets of the inner circles!" he blurted. "Cause I visited these plains?" Korra cocked her head. "However, I´d like to know where your power comes from old man." She was tempted to underline her statement by glowing up herself. "Y-you visited the plains of doubt? That´s impossible – our ancestors and Rava aren´t on the best terms exactly. They wouldn´t have let you come back to the mortal world!" He responded. "Ancestor? I wouldn´t say that Ryo Meiji was one of your ancestors." Korra snorted. "Stop bullshitting me gramps!" she was short of being angry. "What do you expect your godliness? That I tell you thousand years of history over a cup of tea? It´s not as if becoming a Bushin would be something impossible for somebody who´s not from wuji shije." He scratched his head. "Do you still not know what a ritual is?" the old man asked. "What the blody hell are you blabbing. What does it matter what a ritual is, just tell me how you got these powers!" Korra demanded to know. The old man snorted. "You´re not very polite your godliness. Not even my people a so direct." He responded.

"I´ll tell you again – a ritual is nothing but a form to describe something too abstract to understand otherwise. Pouring tea is a ritual. And it differs throughout the nations quite strongly. The firenation uses matcha powder and porcelain cups, in the nations rhey use tea flowers. The watertribe boils the leaves in milk and my people ferment the tea so that it becomes dark. But lastly all nations make tea!" He paused. "the same is true on a much more individual and complex level for more complex acts – like summoning a spirit. The ritual is just a description of the pathway. So of course, there may be other ways to become a Bu Shin than those of my people." He responded. Korra somehow understood. "So anybody can become…that?" she asked. "Everybody who´s able to subdue a Kami of war in the plains of doubt - yes. It´s an experience that shakes the very core of who you are" He responded with a faraway gleam in his eyes. Korra gulped dryly. This day wasn´t as shitty as she had thought five minutes ago, at least she had learned something. "So, would the people of Wuji Shije help me? We both know that the armies of Chu da will not stop on borders when they start marching. Can they teach me a ritual to stop Wu Dang practitioners – human possession!" She responded. "The old man nodded. "I am not the Lady of the Falls your godliness. The Lady sent me and so I came to Ba Sing Se. It seems your fates are entwined, so you´ll have to accompany me and see for yourself." He responded. "If the lady will aid you… the matrial prowress of the union will be strongly enhanced. I´m not one of the greatest spirits swords, but I can assure you that five men of my caliber could take out a platoon of formidable soldiers." He responded. Korra nodded surprised. She never had viewed her visit in Ba Sing Se to take a turn towards the supernatural. "I guess it´d be good to see that queen of yours Master Feng." Korra sighed. "But at first I´ve got to deal with the mess I made in front of the pairlament." She sighed. "You made history today Avatar Korra – we just want to hope that the people in these halls make the right calls. The man closed his eyes. "But the dragon vein hums contently, I guess that´s a good sign." He grinned. "Your aura is almost blinding your godliness." He complimented a disturbed Korra

Authors note: With this I am back dear readers, if you still stick with me. I´m finally graduated and have started working as a material scientist in a company s and interestingly I seem to have time for writing.


	32. Careless words

**Careless words**

It was shocking to see her again after so many years. I barely recognized Toph Bei Fong, who had turned into an old – hag – there was no better word for it. She seemed so fragile and childlike compared to the strong and steadfast woman she had been in her sixties. I was feeling troubled, on the one hand I was happy that Lin could spend some time with her mother, but on the other hand I was envious. Yeah – that sounds quite pathetic, I know. It would, however, be far more pathetic to not admit these feelings, am I right dear readers? Lastly it was quite embarrassing to have a trembling bottom lip and piss welling in your eyes – at least when you`re a man. Therefore, I decided to chrm… study the very ornate tapestries of Chief Bei Fongs guest room. They were colored in a friendly orange, broken by almost bronze seeming patterns! And then Lin started apologizing, I heard her knees thud on the floor. She sounded so desperate and hurt I couldn´t stand it. She hadn´t done anything wrong - being weak – what kind of nonsense was that! As if bad luck cared about strength – I would have laughed about it if she hadn´t sounded so sincere! A simmering fury was rising in my innards – how could an upright, brave and selfless person like her be so damn angsty!

"GODS DAMMIT! You disappointed nobody, you stupid dumbass!" I raged in fury. If somebody did disappoint Chief Bei Fong that was me – since I hadn´t held my word. Lin never had been cocky enough to promise things to a dying man! When the Chief finally noticed my existence the heavy guilt that had rested upon my shoulders since I had been noticed of her presence in Rep City became even more crushing. I had no idea how I should apologize. Not being there for the Bei Fongs, at least for Lin and her mother, was one of the few regrets I held. "I´ve…" my voice failed me as I tried to squeeze out the words that had rumbled through my head for a thousand times. They didn´t come out and the Chief simply blabbered on. I never had been one to easily express my emotions, not when it really mattered. So I mumbled some quite incomprehensible things. Much to my astonishment the Chief was not angry – actually she thought I was dead. Dragonvines and seeing people – somehow that sounded quite suspicious for me. Toph Bei Fong never had struck me as being the spiritual type of person. Obviously, I had been wrong. My voice got stuck in my throat again. How could she know I had changed myself in the past decades? I wasn´t looking that different from my youth and I also had not started telling stories to anybody she could have spoken to. I felt creeped out and exposed as this old woman obviously looked straight into my heart. Nevertheless, it was strangely reassuring that somebody knew me so well. "Yeah." I blurted with a suppressed sigh. "Hah – so you´re some kind of pacifistic guru nowadays? Come on and tell Lee – I could use some fun after all this emotional debris." She quipped cynically. Lin gulped "Mother I don´t.." the Chief frowned the annoyed frown at her pitiable looking daughter. "Don´t say you´re friggin sorry! Nothing is your fault Miss clanky clank." she griped. Lin looked at me apologetically and blushed even further. Her face softened. "Damn – I´m bad at this – I wish Meathead was here." She sighed and pinched her nose, while throwing a punch at Lins arm. Both Bei Fongs had faces that rivaled ripe plumatoes and under other circumstances I would have laughed myself silly about it. But I didn´t feel like laughing, since I was reminded of the heavy losses I suffered since the good years we all spent together. "Me too." Lin sniffled almost inaudible, her mother punched her again – this time the young Bei Fong flinched. "I´m still willing to kick some ass if necessary." I responded dryly. "Actually - I believe that my bending skills finally caught up with Ten Tens, but I don´t give a fuck about that anymore." I responded with a guarded voice. Toph Bei Fong noticed that I wasn´t really comfortable talking about the last twenty years or so I thought. "I know I was a coward Lee, you don´t need to slap some sense into this old lady. Not that you weren´t a century too early for that." Toph Bei Fong cleared her throat and continued bitterly "Life´s done that already... But…I just couldn´t stay in the city after Sokka died. It – just everything reminded me of him. The buildings, the bars – even the noisy traffic!" she tried to justify her squeezed her mothers hand. The young Bei Fong looked at her mother, she tried to understand, but luckily she could not. "Yeah I know that sounds stupid but…" I snorted. "Get cha Toph. Get cha…" I responded tugging on my beard decisively. Toph wanted to give a snarky retort, then her face looked grieving. "You´re not lying." She responded, gulped dryly and closed her eyes. "My condolences kid." She bowed while my heart was thundering in my chest and tears were silently sliding out of the corners of my eyes. Then the Chief decided to embrace me and all I could do was stiffling the sobs I wanted to let out. "The best die young – it´s so unfair." She murmured. I just squeezed back, my hands interlocking behind her shoulders. "You´re right, it´s not fair. But I believe they´re happy – uncle Sokka and Yumi I mean." I responded. Lin was stood there like a log of wood, her fists balled and her body unnaturally rigid and stiff. I steadied my shaky breath. "Well – it´s better since I´m away from Lau an, too. Don´t cha think it´s time for a new page in the book Chief?" I asked her feeling a tad more at ease. The old woman shoved me away with a surprising strength. "My ass – just how many pages is my book going ta have! Nobody´ll read such a bummer!" she wiped her eyes with a gnarly, calloused hand. Then she cocked her head, as if listening to something. "You annoying little pests! Don´t you think I can smell your flowery farts from a mile away? You tiptoing nosy bastards!" Chief Bei Fong suddenly griped. I was plainly disturbed. The old woman just tore the door out of it´s hinges with a sharp, pulling motion. Ikki stumbled into the room, her face even more puffy and red eyed than before. My tall little brother also looked quite indignated as he was caught red-handed. "Ahem…" Tenzin stammered. "Ahem… is all you´ve got to say you nosy eavesdropper?" Toph quirked an eyebrow. "Aunt Toph!" my brother stammered flushing. "Mom.." Lin tried to intervene. "I´m NOT your aunt Tenzin. Stop behaving as if I´m a cultural heritage site that has to be cleaned and conserved for the public." Toph bitched. "I´m old and maybe I´ll drop dead at dinner, but that´s no excuse to treat me like a friggin child!" she cruelly stated the obvious. "B-but…" he stammered. Toph snorted annoyed. "Careful baldy - I still could wipe the floor with your sorry ass. And no - for the last time - I´m not angry at you, or have a personal dislike against your children and your wifey! It´s not my business that you decided another gals snatch is better than my daughters!" She rumbled. Lin just stormed out of the room at that, while Ikki´s jaw dropped as she stared at her father disbelievingly. "Toph!" Tenzin looked really flustered now. I never knew that a human being could cringe so hard. "NO!" she waved her hands decisively "I´m pissed because you think I can´t make my own decisions anymore! Decisions like; what do I want for breakfast! I don´t care that fried pork-chicken is unhealthy – gods dammit, I´ve lived to be more than eighty years old! And since my sixteenth birthday NOBODY has ever had the impudence to patronize me like you annoying leavesblowers do! So what´s your excuse this time? You´re afraid that I´d die on you because seeing my little badgermole would give me a heart-stroke?" she blurted. "No I – I just wanted to see Lin! B-But then it was inappropriate to enter.." Tenzin tried to justify his eavesdropping.

It seemed the old woman was not finished, actually my mood was lightening drastically at the almost comedic display. "Yeah and of course you couldn´t have knocked on the door like a civilized person! The hell, we´ve not been discussing a murder in this room!" she added snidely. Tenzins head dropped, he looked like a scolded schoolboy. "Y-You were together with auntie LIN - dad? Like IN LOVE?" Ikki processed the new information. "Chrm… well… hrm.." Tenzin was behaving quite hilarious. "Definitely – they were totally into that romance mumbo jumbo." Toph stated with a superior smirk, while his daughter was quite eager to know more about this topic. Tenzin flinched again. Since it was on the table I could make the most of it, didn´t I? "They were sappycrapping and slobbering around so much they put Love amongst dragons to shame. And I couldn´t say anything because I was the dork who set them up in the first place." I responded neutrally. Toph´s face lit up in devious joy. "Elder brother Lee.." Tenzin growled angrily, his patience was running thin. I grinned, if he wanted to play rough it´d be not my fault if my hand slipped – right? "Are we angry about people speaking the truth in this house TenTen?" I cracked a crooked smile. "Well – if you want to behave like a teenager… I wouldn´t mind to do the same and bend the shit out of your sorry ass! That actually would be my job, since uncle Sokka wasn´t around when you dumped her." I mused cockily. The Chief just smacked a hand to her forehead.

"Geez… men!" she muttered with an annoyed sigh. "As if you could Bei Gao Lee." Tenzin responded staring down on me. "DAD!" Ikki´s voice was shrill and loud. " Stop behaving like a chest huffing idiot. It seems almost as if you still have feelings for her!" She accused her father. Tenzin let out an annoyed huff. Well, I had no idea if Ikki had hit home or if my brother finally realized how childish he behaved. I was not much interested in this topic – he had made his choice years ago and that was that. He at once got a hold on himself, like any good politician. "Yes, I had a relationship with Lin and it didn´t – work out the way we intended it to." He trailed off in a neutral and polite politicans voice. "But since this was a long time ago, before I got to know your mother we decided to let the past be the past and continued as childhood friends." He explained his daughter. Obviously Ikki was dissatisfied with the brief answer her father gave. The teenage girl without a doubt was into angsty romances – like way too many teenage girls! "So it was just a summerly love affair amongst teenagers? Uncle Lee?" Ikki asked, the girl ignored her fathers cringing. "Ikki – please. What does this matter to you?" Tenzin wanted to know. "Matters? Matters? It´s you who always wants to know where I and Toza go to, so I´ve got the same rights father!" the girl irked and locked her arms in front of her chest. "T-this is something different." Tenzin tried to justify his behavior, while Toph Bei Fong laughed heartily. Tenzin just sighed and turned around in his flowing robes. "I don´t have to listen to your childish nonsense. It´s not as if I have dirty secrets!" he responded in a haughty voice. There was a short silence after his exit. Toph scratched her disorderly, whitish bun. "Umm…maybe I was a bit blunt." She responded thoughtful.

I opened my mouth and closed it again. I had remembered it was senseless to lecture this woman about anything related to appropriate social conduct! "I-I guess I´ll have a chat with the squirt." She muttered and just disappeared into the hallway. Just me and Ikki were left. "So – you want to hear some cringy stories about your father?" I asked her with a devious grin. The teenagers dark eyes glowed like coals from the pits of hell. "Tell me everything!" she squealed delighted while cutishly clapping her hands. We took a seat on some orange cushions. "Well Ikki – first off – you´ll never tell any of this to Lin, please." My eyes narrowed "She´s still fawning over your dad like some kind of lovesick princess. It´s something that really irks me but the blockhead could be locked up with the most beautiful men of the world – she would still mope around and don´t touch the goods." I responded. The girl yipped in surprise. "So it´d be better if you just kept your mouth shut, it´s not that the two of them would ever have an affair. Lin is a proud woman and definitely won´t settle for being a concubine…or something along the lines." I stated. "That´s so sad." Ikki almost started crying again. "But I – I can´t understand how they even fell in love in the first place! I mean, I always thought aunt Lin either was into girls or into obnoxious loudmouth guys like you or uncle Bumi! Or maybe both…" she giggled playfully. I frowned subconsciously. I wasn´t obnoxious! I scratched my head, what had I maneuvered myself into? "Well, the Lin you know is very different from her past self. When she was about eighteen, that was when the two of them realized they were more than childhood sweethearts, she wasn´t that talk no nonsense woman she´s today." I responded. "Lin was quite tomboyish, but that was solely related to her upbringing – she basically had two fathers so it was to be expected she turned out a tad um…manly. Furthermore, she was an illegitmate child like myself and that didn´t sit well with people. I guess she was bullied quite a lot, especially since her mother was quite well known to be a slut!" I responded. "H-How can you say that! If Chief Bei Fong heard you!" Ikki responded. "It´s true – I´m not telling a fairy tale here. Also there are a lot of worse things to call a woman – at least in my humble opinion…Golddigger for example." I responded dryly and continued. " Since Lin always wanted to please her mother she avoided a lot of things she herself would have loved to do. For example, painting was one of her favorite pastimes, she also loved sewing dresses and wearing girly clothes like peachy yukatas. She even sneaked off into plays like love amongst dragons." I elaborated. Ikki squealed again. It seemed Lin had gotten a fangirl, a terrifying one at that. "When she was in school she took everything extremely serious, just like your father. And like your father – who even as a seventeen year old was the prude old man he is right now- she was convinced she had to become the successor of her mother." "My father is not prude." Ikki pouted. She giggled as I quirked an eyebrow. "Yes he is." She responded." Tenzin on the other hand was convinced he and he alone had to carry on the air nomads legacy – his fathers legacy! He also loved painting and writing poems. I bet he even read romance novels." Ikki just stared at me.

"What?" I grinned. "Yeah – It´s difficult to imagine but, I myself also was an angry, foul mouthed and violent streetrat with superiority complexes and mommy issues back then… But hey – we all have our faults." I admitted. "Tenzin was extremely polite and kind of good looking. At least if you have a thing for girly milksops in orange robes." I explained. Ikki frowned. Obviously she didn´t like the idea of her father being a milksop. I cleared my throat. "Even if your father would decline it today he admired Lins stern attitude and rebellios behavior. That also just was true from his perspective – Linny never took any drugs, skipped school and had shenangians with grown men. Her little sister was not so innocent in this regard – by the way. Your dad howewer, well… his mom walked him to school until he was fifteen!" I blurted. I still felt a twinge of jealousy at TenTens beautiful childhood."MOTHER OF FACES! That´s kinda embarrassing." Ikkis eyes were bulging. "And yeah – also Lin was quite the shiner." I responded. "She still is." Ikki added dryly. I smiled deviously at the pleasant memories "Even as they were attracted to each other both of them were quite shy about it, mostly because your father is almost two years younger than Lin." Ikki nodded. "And Lin had as much experience in love as a five week old rabbiroo." I added. "So she was just admiring your father from afar and he was contemplating in his sousanoo temple if love was something befitting of the worlds last airbender. He also was asking himself if a Bei Fong could give birth to airbenders I guess. He wanted to make me a monk, too because he thought it was his duty. It´s weird how serious TenTen was about all of this back then." I responded. "Still their self pitying swooning went on for months." "Gods…how stupid! I don´t get what dad always has with tradition but hell – must be an old people thing!" Ikki exclaimed. "My thoughts exactly – and that was why I decided to do something about this real live second act of Love amongst Dragons. Of course just after your dad threatened to beat me up if I wouldn´t stop hitting on Lin Bei Fong." I smiled and rose my hands. Ikki sputtered in dispelief "Dad did WHAT? I mean – he -he threatened somebody with violence? He didn´t even do that to Toza!" she was disturbed. I chuckled, lovestruck people did a lot of out of character things after all. I just continued "I wasn´t interested in Lin, since I had already been with my later wife for some years, but tell that to a lovesick teenager when you´re a damn attractive twenty year old badass." I quipped. Ikki snorted. "Yes you´re not biased at all uncle Lee." I simply ignored the irony. "So I just asked Lin if she liked Tenzin and why she didn´t do anything to get into his pants." I summarized my course of action. " Of course she was adorkably flustered and whiney. I gave her a little peptalk and even went as far as telling her how me and Yumi got together." I shrugged. "Since she wouldn´t adopt the Adachi style – which meant drinking a ton of sake and have sex with the person of interest…" Ikki´s eyes sparkled even more "She wrote a three scrolled love letter. That thing reeked of more perfume than a whores matress!" I cringed internally, while Ikki sighed dreamily. "And then they started it off. Gods, your father used so many petnames I got sick! Of course he would never be flirtatious and defended Lin against any kind of "indecent" remarks. Teasing them was so much fun – for example…" I now started to tell some anecdotes, which Ikki soaked up like refreshing spring water. We had been talking for a quite long time as the gong sounded and Ikki had to hurry off for lunchtime. I also should follow her but hastily declined. Even though I had enjoyed my time as a storyteller I really should have a closer look at how Lin was faring. Furthermore I had not been invited to lunch by the master of airtemple island, which was enough reason to decline! I left the guestroom and wandered through the gardens. Nobody was to be seen since all inhabitants of airtemple island – minus the guards of the white lotus – were having their meals together. At first I found a grumbly Toph Bei Fong who was chatting with a hovering, prune like spirit. "I tell you Tatu this girl is such a queen fussy bridges - it drives me up the wall! Can you believe it – she told me I´m being indecent! What´s indecent about telling the truth!" she bellowed at the bluish glowing thing before she noticed me.

"Oh hey Lee." She greeted me. "That's Tatu – the only person with commonsense on this bloody island." She introduced the humming spirit. The spirit rested itself on her ancient neck as if to underline her statement. "Well – you just drop verbal avalanches and are disturbed that Linny has hurt feelings? I mean – if we didn´t know better we would think that your daughters only love affair was a romp in the bathroom… not something that lasted longer than ten years and ended in a quite onesided breakup." I responded dryly. She actually flinched and huffed. "Gods don´t be so stingy about something so trivial as the choice of words!" she cocked her head. I sighed. "It´s not trivial for Lin and you know that." I responded. "Well – I´m sorry, ok – but she´s just being dramatic about it." The old earthbender fussed. "How did she stand being Chief of police if she has such a baby-skin?" she asked. I was not ready to thread on this thin ice yet, so I just shrugged. "Lin wasn´t very close to her colleagues – do nobody did tease her like that." I responded. Tophs eyes widened for a split second. Obviously, she hadn´t wasted a thought about Lin being anything but totally adored in the force. "She´s on the cliff?" I asked a rhetoric question and strode off. "Yeah – like always." Toph responded. "Hmpf not close to the colleagues she spends most of her time with– can you imagine that Tatu? And she doesn´t even tell me -Fuck…" she sighed obviously shaken. I sighed, it seemed the problems of my little family were even graver than I had assumed. Lin was sitting on the cliff like so many times when she and Su Yin had quarreled. This time she was not painting but silently staring out into the sea. "Hey Lin." I greeted her. She responded with a head sized lump of earth, which was listlessly aimed at my head. I only had to shift my weight to avoid it. "Go away." He voice was gruff. "I want to be alone." She hissed obviously hurt. As I approached further, she didn´t throw any more earth at me. "Your mother is stupid sometimes." I stated a fact. "and selfish." Lin added bitterly. Well, I couldn´t deny that – but who wasn´t? I just took a seat next to her. Lin looked horrible, her eye was puffy and her face mangled with a mixture of anger and sadness. She didn´t look at me but continued to stare into the muddy, brownish waters of yue bay. I had no idea what I should respond. We just sat there for quite some time, while she sometimes stared on her hands. "Why´re you here?" she suddenly asked. "Why wouldn´t I – I´m not into vegetarian food and nomadic stories. I also wasn´t invited to lunch since I might have been a bit rude to Tenzin. And lastly I would be quite an asshole if I weren´t here" "Did you destroy anything important to him?" Lin asked while eying me sternly. I chuckled a bit too loud. "Lee – please tell me you didn´t start a brawl." She responded. I shrugged disturbed. "Why the hell should I? I just might have damaged my little brothers almost otherworldy reputation – which was high time!" I responded. She just continued to stare at me until I slipped.

"I just said that I didn´t refuse his challenge if he insisted on behaving like a teenager." I admitted. Lin let out a deep breath. "Please don´t ruin your relationship with your brother because of me, it´s not worth it." She advised me, obviously uncomfortable. "I´m not ruining anything." I snapped. "If you want to be angry at me as well – please go ahead." I slowly was turning frustrated by this straining day. "I – I ´m not angry Lee." She responded. She stared at her tattoed hands. "Tenzin didn´t even follow me, he was embarrassed." She accused her former lover. "Well – you know better than me that TenTen is a little coward." I responded. "Furthermore, I´ve got no idea what his situation would feel like. I mean, I´ve never remained friends with one of my former love affairs." I responded. Lin punched my arm; her punches were far gentler than her mothers. "You´re right – it is kind of weird. I mean, we´ve just pretended for years that nothing happened. He just married Pema and I remained there like some creepy lovesick weirdo." She seethed. I nodded. "It´s funny I didn´t even notice it. I mean – it´s hilarious!" she responded bitterly "I didn´t want to notice it. And – and even after he became a father I couldn´t stop gazing at him like some princess in an ivory tower! I didn´t even try not to because I just worked until I thought about nothing anymore." she rambled. Even if she was rather harsh to herself I was happy. She at least admitted that we were right! Me and her mother had tried to tell her that the truth had to be spoken. Sadly we were really bad at picking emotional daisies. My thoughts drifted as Lin didn´t add anything. Even if I had not apologized properly, I had the feeling that Toph would be able to forgive me – I was thankful that the bond between us was strong enough to survive the harsh strain we both had put upon it. The reason I knew that was beating herself up less than an arms length away from me. I felt grateful. "Thank you Lin." I responded with a stinging, yet warm feeling in my chest.

"Huh?" she was startled. "For making me come here I mean. It´s not been half as bad as I thought it would be." I admitted silently. She smiled a wry smile. "You´re a hopeless case Lee." She responded and I knew it was true. Toph Bei Fong could mold me like a clay puppet if she wanted to. She was the mother I never had, even though she had her faults. "I know Lin – but I never could ask my mother for advice." I responded wringing my hands, by all means I couldn´t be more direct. She patted my shoulder, it was a gentle touch. "You shouldn´t scratch your arms, even though they are icky, the tattoos will just become inflammated, which can be dangerous." I reminded her as she was scratching on her hands. "they´re so gross." Lin wailed in despair. I sighed. "Why? I think they look nice. They´re well done and quite unique." I smiled. "You LIKE this kind of barbarian stuff?" she asked disturbed. "Well I´m a hard tribal guy. I loved the whole wet´s warrior shit before it became a thing, you know." I responded chuckling. Lin chewed on her bottom Lip. "No – I didn´t. " Lin responded. "Well it´s just that people think I´m a slut. Or a criminal and they – they stare at me." She mumbled silently.

"So what? People think all kind of dumb things – like airbenders are all clean shaved pacifists!" I responded. "You´re anything but a criminal and people who actually know their shit know that these ancient Wushu ornaments are not related to the terras at all." I pointed on the overly ornate terra band like patterns that wound up her arm. "Y-You know that these are of the Tian Lang school?" Lin asked disturbed. "Yeah – you know, after Yumi was gone the dojo wasn´t going that well anymore and I just wasn´t that much interested in martial arts and being a sifu to begin with." I narrated. "Sokka had a strange art teacher who deemed it her mission to help a poor half orphan by taking care of her father." I chuckled. "She taught me the basics of art and most likely would have liked to teach me other things I didn´t want to learn." I smiled. Miss Tomasu had been a very charming and good looking woman but she had been there a few years too early. "Ahhh – so you´re a heartbreaker as well." Lin chided me. I felt rather irked. "I´ve voiced it rather clear that we wouldn´t become more than friends." I muttered grumpily. Lin didn´t respond anything. Of course she didn´t like this topic I scolded myself. "I´ve never tried to be one and I would say my brother didn´t chose to this to you as well. He´s just a fluttery stupid kid." I responded bluntly. "Why stupid?" she frowned. "Well – you should know what you want when you´re hitting the thirties!" I stated dryly. "Did you?" Lin asked shyly. "Yes, I wanted Yumi, good health – your stuck up, flowery self as well as the rest of my family. And I also thought about kids and expanding the company." I responded honestly. Lin didn't look at me. She sighed. "Well – you´ve had no legacy to live up to." She responded. "The only one who´s been crazed about this legacy bullshit has been you Lin – your mother ran away from HER legacy! She´d never have said anything if you had decided to do things IF she had uncle Sokka would have given her one hell of a time, you know that! Hell – she didn´t even say a word as your sister decided to sell the family estate in Gao Ling to build an oversized metal dome." I responded not noticing how inappropriate I was behaving. Lin buried her face in her hands, her voice thick with unshed tears. "You´re such a bastard Lee." She accused me, got up and left. I remained sitting on the cliff feeling quite bad. "Yikes – that was just perfect Lee." I punched the ground angrily.

I also left the cliff because staring at the sea was dumb and unproductive. Maybe I should just visit Ping, in his company I didn´t have to be afraid about blurting nonsense. Finally Sokka could need more attention, I guess I´d neglected my daughter for the first time in my life. Luckily she was in the age at which young people loved being neglected by their parents! But before I could do this I would take a nap. I was emotionally drained and therefore sleeping was quite easy, until something repeatedly hit my cheek. "Ugh.. what the hell!" I groaned and propped myself up on my elbow. Toph Bei Fong was towering over me. "Yeah – you´re really good at soothing my daughter. Much better than the plain old me!" She commented sarcastically. She rose herself an earthen chair to sit down. "Yeah I screwed it. Well – your daughter has fucked up her life and I just told her!" I huffed. "She obviously can´t stand that nobody besides herself is responsible for it. It´s natural I – I also snapped as Yumi died and nobody besides my squirt could calm me. Pfft and Lin doesn´t even have child to get her back on track. I´m worried." I responded. Toph grit her remaining teeth. "Are you implying it´s my fault that my daughter has made bad calls?" she asked silently. "It´s not about fault Toph – it´s about how we get her to snap out of this stupid obsession with the Bei Fong legacy." I answered. The old woman obviously was shaken. "What´re you always talking about. What is the Bei Fong legacy? I mean yeah – awesomeness is hereditary in the family but I never told my daughters to do anything they don´t want to !" she trailed off knowing exactly what I was hinting at. I still was holding way to much respect for Toph, otherwise I would have told her much more bluntly what part of her daughters life was her fault. However, it wasn´t necessary as I noticed from her sagged shoulders.

"I -I just´ve held a promise I made when she was born." She tried to justify herself. "i´ve promised I wouldn´t be like my parents!" she hissed. "it wasn´t easy see – especially with Su it wasn´t. But do you know how hard it is to raise kids. When you´re the only thing keeping your home from turning into a heap of violence and murder." She paused. "When everybody always questions you and states you´re an - an abomination just because you do have tits and no cock? To know that your parents are disgusted by your life, while they would been bursting with pride an adoration if you just had been a SON!" she blurted at me. Of course I had no idea how that felt like but I was too drained to start another fight today. "You just make mistakes, serious mistakes." She cursed in ancient Guang Zhu. "I´m not blaming you chief, I – I´m really not because that´s not my place and I can´t say I´ve been a perfect father myself. Nobody can that." I responded.

"So you´ve got a kid. Heh." She stated a tad less frustrated. "Yes, even though I never thought that I´d have a daughter." I responded. "How old is she?" Toph responded. I flushed a bit "Sokka turned nineteen three months ago." I responded. "Ouch." I rubbed my arm that was throbbing terribly. "How the fuck could you name a girl Sokka." Toph grumbled with a hoarse voice. "That was Yumi´s decision – I didn´t have much of a say..." I replied. I could see she was deeply moved. "Stupid Snoozles would be grinning the whole day if he knew." She responded in a faraway voice. I nodded in consensus. "How´s she." She wanted to know. "You could see yourself, since I intend to visit her. If you take a bath previously!" I insisted as I caught a whiff of her fragrance. "Geez Lee, what´s your problem with a healthy coating of earth?" she whined. "You´re stinking like a cow swine – this can´t be healthy!" I responded. "You´ll buy me dumplings – extra spicey." She retorted and launched herself towards Tenzins house. Actually, I had no idea if Sokka even was at home, and if she was interested in getting to know the quirky old Toph Bei Fong. Well – I didn´t bother her with annoying old people stuff as frequently as most parents did, so I hoped that she would show some understanding. The old woman was rather hyped as she reappeared with an orange robe and clean white hair. "So – let´s run on the docks." She responded waving around a tiny purse that she never would have bought herself. I shook my head laughing.

"Geez Toph, I don´t intend to get wasted before visiting my daughter. Also I´d like to know if Lin´s doing bullshit again, like moving out of my flat without leaving an address, getting herself drunk in the dragonflats – ya get me!" I responded. "Wait a moment…" Toph just jumped and then sunk down into the ground. She just stayed there, her eyes staring into nothingness. Suddenly she spoke. "Lin´s – ok." She responded with a strange pause. I didn´t pry any further. "So, I shouldn´t stop by at home to fetch some dumplings for Sokka?" I asked. "You´re spoiling your kid with home cooked food? Never thought you´d be the daddy mooselion type." Toph responded snippy. I almost felt insulted. "Well, she hates cooking." I sighed. "Sometimes I thought she was your airbending reincarnation. Luckily she´s law abiding at least!" Toph cackled. "That´s impossible. There aint a single girl in the world that can throw a punch like me!" she bragged. "Sokka actually can throw much harder punches than you. She´s hellbent on mastering iron palm Kung Fu." I sighed. "I just don´t understand why a woman would waste their youth on such bullcrap – she´s a bender for fucks sake! That should be enough to kick people´s butt! I´d be scratching together my last coppers if she wanted to attend university – even if it was for something stupid like public jurisdiction or an earth nation history degree!" I whined. My daughter obnoxiously threw opportunities away that I never had, which bothered me more than I wanted to admit. "It´s good that you let her do it Lee. I guess I´d have turned out very different if my father had just tolerated my wishes partially." Toph responded thoughtful and somehow, I swelled with pride at the simple statement. We walked towards the ferry to cross Yue bay. "By the way Lee – are you also invited to this stupid garden party that my grand niece is hosting? Cause if you´re not you´ll come with me – I at least need one decent drinking partner there. And somehow it feels cringy to get blasted with my own daughter…" She responded matter of factly. I had no idea what she was talking about. "I think not." I responded.

"Well, she´s sent the invitations before Lin disappeared and Bumi died…so the party is being held." Toph responded. "I don´t know your niece and actually I´m far from thrilled to meet Su Yin, you know that she and I do not work out properly. I think I´m too old to either jump into the sheets with her or beat her up for a second time." I responded grumpily. "I know you´re a toxic mixture but that´s true for any backbone having person and Su." Toph responded nonchalantly. "The kid has an even larger ego than me – which proves that nothing under the heavens is impossible!" she responded. "Also the little girly girl wants to take me in as if I were a toddler." She grumbled. "Su Yin is in town?" I asked. "Not directly in town. She is with her daughter and Bo Lin somewhere in the countryside of the Republic. They´ve built a grand estate there – ugh – I´ll vomit as soon as I set a foot in there. At least if Avatar frizzyfoot is right." She quipped. "Under the condition that you tell Linny you don´t want her to reclaim her seat as Chief… I might consider this party, which definitely is far too uppity for me." I responded. "You´re worrying about my squirt a bit too much, don´t cha think Lee…" she wiggled her eyebrows suspiciously. Was she implying I wanted to get into Lin´s strangely cut underwear? "Huh?" I quirked an eyebrow. "Well – I´d like if she had a lover who could take over the worrying part from me... If that´s what you´re hinting at Chief. You should know quite well that I´m as close to Lins tastes as firelord Zuko is to yours." I responded. Toph let out a cackling laught.

"Ugh…that´ve been so Oogie! Gods Lee – I´m getting goosebumps for all the wrong reasons!" she responded loudly while shaking her head fervently. Me and Lin – that was hilarious! We were pals for decades and I was radically different from Tenzin, which without a doubt was the gold standard every potential candidate had to measure up to. Toph snorted obnoxiously. "Well – if you say so." It seemed the old woman was not believing me even if I had responded perfectly truthful! "Yes, I say so!" I added determined. "And if you start blabbing such nonsense to my daughter or her friends I will kill you Toph – that girl´s stopping at nothing!" I responded sharply, actually Sokka could be quite fearsome. The date she had set up with some grocery store owner in Lau an – it still gave me the creeps occasionally! Toph huffed. "Come on stormy hotpants – I´ll bet it´s quite easy for you to get laid so enjoy it as long as you still can!" she teased me. "I´m picky, but you´re right compared to the trash that calls itself men in their golden years nowadays I´m top nodge!" I beamed. We entered one of the boats after Toph had a shouting contest with the white lotus guardsmen. They had dared to voice the opinion that the Lady Bei Fong should not venture into the city without some kind of escort – a grave mistake! The way to the docks was familiar, as was the old wooden pier that still was reserved for the airtemples boats. We then got ourselves a cab and drove as close to the spirit portal as possible. We still had to walk some blocks to reach my daughters address, since the driver wasn´t trusting in his arrangement of earth nation idols anymore. "Oh – that´s a beautiful place." Toph said to nowhere in particular. I was wondering, since the clay brick houses looked quite run down and the people mostly barred their windows with heavy wooden planks.

"You kiddin – right?" I responded. "no – don´t you feel how alive the soil is – it´s almost otherworldly." The woman piped happily. I shrugged clueless. The air close to Sokka´s home might be a bit chillier than elsewhere but it was still the muddled wavering soup that was typical for Rep City. It took a while until we arrived at Sokkas place, mainly because a certain someone had to dig her toes into the ground for half an hour. It was almost dark as we arrived and I knocked on the door loudly. Of course, it wasn´t Sokka but the oldest of the watertribe women who opened the door. Kayar was pleasantly surprised to see me. "Hello, Mr. Lee. It´s been quite a while." She greeted me politely. Toph chuckled deviously – that vile old brat! "Ah - he was busy chasing skirts missy." I just frowned like an angry schoolboy as Kayar giggled melodically. "Shut up!" I hissed. "So that´s Sokkas grandmother?" she asked innocently. "WHAT! DO I LOOK LIKE THIS SILVEREYED MILKSOP! Bah, as if some prissy like him could´ve slipped outta me bottoms." Toph blurted. I just rolled my eyes. "I´m the great and only Toph Bei Fong cutie!" she added bragging. Kayar was staring at her quite skeptically. "She is impolite but – she´s indeed Toph Bei Fong." I stated dryly, while nudging her with the elbow. The nurse obviously needed her time to process that a legendary warhero was standing in front of her and behaved like a rugged sailor. "Eh… I- It´s a great honor to welcome you Lady Bei Fong!" her voice was almost toppling and the worlds mingled into some kind of insanely fast, blurred snarl.

The old woman just smirked, mirthfully. "It IS so if ya lil fussybridges have calmed yer twisted panties… It´d be great if we could have some tea." I barely managed to stop her from simply strutting past our hostess. Just how corrosive had this damned swamp been to the Chiefs already strongly corroded manners? "IF we´re welcome. Of course, we´d like to meet Sokka, if she´s home already." I asked. Kayar sighed. "She´s in the cellar, punching wooden boards." she frowned a motherly frown. "That can´t be healthy for her hands." I would have loved to hug the nurse an tell her she was a most beautiful lady but luckily I wasn´t as impulsive as my late brother. "Wrong, it´s good for the bones, they get earthier and stronger with that." Toph stated. I was startled. "What are you talking about?" I inquired. And with that the old woman started lecturing me about how she was able to feel where people were moving. Obviously martial artiests had different bones from common humans, due to the fact that they were punching hard thing day after day. Well – it made sense but I actually had not wasted a thought about it. I also had never tried if I could learn how to split rocks like the great masters. We followed Kayar into the orderly living room. Toph´s muddy feet left darkish footprints on the gleaming wooden floor. Kayar didn´t offer the old woman house slippers. Most likely Sokka was responsible for this innovation, since the water tribes were wearing their boots everywhere, for obvious reasons! We indeed heart a rhythmic banging sound from the cellar. The most of the other girls seemed to be absent.

Luckily that was true for Indra as well. The curly haired northerner still seemed to have a crush on me. Whenever I visited, she handed some home cooked meals to me, while being close to swooning. Toph plopped herself down onto the worn Sofa, while Kayar went to fetch my daughter. I also seated myself and hoped the chief would be merciful. "Really sweet little things." She quipped as her calloused hands played with the mollusk shells that were decorating the table. Sound steps heralded Sokkas arrival. My daughter darted into the room. "DAD!" she yelled and hurled herself at me with an uncharacteristic fervor. I was quite startled, as my squirt hugged me tightly without caring about the old woman. Even her chest was losing some of its softness and her arms felt as hard as my own. At least her face still looked like a woman's, she also wasn´t wearing men´s clothing. "Hey – um I know I´ve not been visiting much recently." I trailed off apologetically. Sokka loosened her hug and smiled at me happily. Her eyes were sparkling. She was sweat drenched and fidgeted with her calloused hands. "You´re looking good." She responded observative. Toph piped up. "So that´s Yumis kid." She stated. Kayar had disappeared form the room, dragging the two remaining girls with her.

Sokkas head turned. "An who´d you be – Kayars long lost grandma ?" she asked in the same, mocking tone. I sighed internally and prepared myself for a very pleasant time. "No – I´m Toph Bei Fong. Don´t dare to call me auntie Toph, grandma Toph or some other bullshit!" she responded. My daughters' eyes widened for a split second as she stared down at the tiny woman. "Oh – I – uh – thought you were taller." She blurted, while I facepalmed. Toph chuckled. "In a dogfight it´s not about the size of the dog but of the fight in the dog." She responded bragging. "And I´ve more than enough spunk in my days." She responded. "Gimme your hands." She simply grabbed the squirts hands. Sokka wanted to pull back, which resulted in Toph being pulled from the couch easily. "You´ve quite the hands child." She responded in a tone that made Sokka flush. "Have you done it yet?" she asked grinning. Sokka seemed as clueless as I. "Did what?" she responded. "Broken the forty." She stated dryly. "Come on Toph Sokka´s nineteen." I responded. Breaking glazed rooftiles was an ancient tradition amongst the martial artists of the kingdoms. Yes, Sokka had calloused hands but breaking forty tiles wasn´t something a nineteen-year-old girl could be capable of. "You don´t need to go all daddy mooselion Lee." Toph rolled her eyes. "I´ve broken thirty-three. Well – we don´t have the money for so many tiles so breaking isn´t something the dojo does regularly." Sokka explained proudly. I let out a gasping sound. Thirtythree clay tiles – I really wanted to check if her hands were ok. Still there was a frog twisting in my throat.

I should´ve been proud of my daughter but I actually could not help but feel a twinge of uneasiness as well. Toph laughed at me. "Whoa…. Um that´s quite the think." I admitted. Sokka didn´t swell in pride. "It´s nothing. I´m too weak. I can´t win the golden fan with that halfassed dedication I´ve shown." She grumbled dissatisfied. "Sokka – most people need decades to get that far." I tried to assure her. "I know dad, I know." She responded slightly disappointed. The squirt looked at Toph, marveling what the old woman wanted form her. "So – you´re not dead?" she responded. "What´re you doing here?" she asked trying to make some smalltalk, she was even less talented then my late wife. "I´ve spent most of the last twenty years in a swamp – does wonders for your skin." The Chief responded with a wary chuckle. Obviously Toph didn´t like to talk about her time of seclusion and if she didn´t want to do something she wouldn´t do it. "And I came here to find out if my daughter still was alive – parents tend to do that y´know." She quipped. Sokka stammered a quite embarrassed apology. "Well your father did all the work for me." Toph suddenly responded, I could hear the gratitude in her voice. Sokka closed the distance and whispered in my ear.

"Did – did you find her body?" she asked with a slightly lilting voice. Toph frowned, maybe she had managed to understand my daughters' words. "No – Lin´s pretty much alive. She´s staying at my place at the moment?" I asked Toph, who nodded silently. Sokkas eyes were wide as marbles. "That's beautiful." She responded in a giddy tone. "Dad´s been terribly worried since Chief Bei Fong disappeared." The damn squirt blurted. "I know. He always had a biiig soft spot for lil Linny." The vile old hag smirked. Sokka´s eyes flared like silvery hellfires, while I barely stopped myself from cringing. "You´ve gotta tell me more bout that. Some tea – sake, whatever you want!" Sokka offered the old woman. "Sake – that´s one decent kid you have Lee." Toph responded as Sokka eagerly hurried off to fetch some rice wine. When she reappeared with a plain, cord wrapped bottle and three clay cups I had already resigned myself to an unchangable fate. Toph bei Fong started telling stories about my youth and I could do nothing but interject when she overdid it….

Authors note: A happy Christmas you, dear readers. I hope you spend the days with your loved ones. I too have the privilege to do so this year but I still wanted to give a contribution like almost every active autor does on FF. Greetings in the hood


	33. Son of a Wolf

**Son of a Wolf**

Captain Chouw was waiting in Hasooks noodlery, which was one of the few classy restaurants in the harbor district. It was early in the evening and the noodlery was almost empty. The most customers would arrive in two or three hours. The usual clients were wealthy bachelors and bachelorettes that wanted to fill their stomachs with something classy before they indulged in the far less classy joys of the various bars, jazz-clubs and brothels. Two burly bouncers, huge, dark-skinned, southerners were idly sitting on a small table while sipping their tea. It was milk tea – how Korra could drink this perversion of a tea willingly was beyond Ma Kos understanding. Luckily the men hadn´t spoken to Ma ko, it had been annoying enough to deal with these clingy tourist girls from Ba Sing Se. They wanted to take pictures with him and insisted on autographs. Luckily the people of Republic City weren´t that interested in him anymore. Sure, there were some creepy fangirls but apart from that he could go about his daily life relatively unnoticed. However, Ma Ko, who had positioned himself on a table located behind a rice paper screen wall, was waiting for Varrick son of Varrick. The man had a faked appointment with Taiji, the terrifying matron of his taxation offices.

The businessman was on time, as Ma Ko noticed after having a short look on his pocket-watch. Asami had gifted the watch to him, it even carried a dedication inside the silvery cover "Love knows no time". Ma ko smiled at the irony behind the words, since he only saw the Hiragana signs when he had no time! He considered this expensive gadget quite useless, who cared about a few minutes anyways? "Oh, Mr. Varrick Sir, what can I be of service with?" one of the bouncers greeted Varrick. It somehow felt as if the two men knew each other. Varrick muttered something the officer could not understand, then he was led to table fifteen. The table Mrs. Taiji had reserved for their dinner. At once a waiter plopped up next to the entrepreneur and asked him for his dishes. He ordered a quite lavish amount of traditional watertribe cuisine and the most excellent plumwine of the establishment. Ma ko waited until the wine arrived, then he left his place.

"Good evening Varrick." He greeted his old acquaintance and simply seated himself on the chair next to the startled man. "Oh – good evening Ma Ko. What´s up? I´ve heard you and Asami are in the hot biz right now?" the man smiled a disgustingly broad smile. "I think so." Chouw responded. "I´m startled to see you here however – me and Asami wanted to grab some noodles together but it seems something came up with her." Ma Ko sighed exaggerated. "You know, businesswomen." He trailed off. "Oh, I get´cha pal." Varrick chimed in with much gusto. He emptied his glass of wine in a decisive gulp. "I´ve ta make more deals with these two sisters from the north recently – damn fine ladies but – urgh… the business meetings are so boring!" Varrick whined. "No decent drinks, no ladies going along with the food. Not even good smokes!" He pouted. Ma Kos eyes widened, was this the same man who had married in the grandest and most romantic ceremony to be ever held in the republic? Varrik obviously was moping around because his business partners didn´t provide hookers for him! Somehow Chouw didn´t feel much pity for his wife turned secretary – you just didn´t marry your boss to begin with! He remembered a time in which he had not behaved much better, though. He really loathed his old self for being a heartbreaking asshole but well – things are as they are and will be as they`ll be – he repeated his mantra.

Ma ko chuckled nevertheless. "Well Ma Ko, I really would like to catch up with you but I´ve got an appointment with a lady." He rose his hands. "No , not what you´re thinking pal." He winked at him obviously. " Mrs. Taiji does parts of my taxes and she wanted to meet me to talk about some things." He shrugged. "Seems one of my bookkeeps didn´t do his job correctly. I guess we´ll have cleaned the issue before the main dishes arrive." He stated nonchalantly. "I guess I´ll have a talk with her boss about this. You know – among us businessmen – always make sure to play Wing Chun with the head of offices." Ma ko nodded in consent. "Well – is this about the foundation for supporting your illegitimate children? Or is it about you washing money with said foundation." Ma Ko stated dryly. Varrik spit out his plum wine. "H- How!" there was no politeness in Varricks demeanor anymore. He looked like a frightened rabbiroo. Maybe Ma Ko had used the look without noticing it, but the officer didn´t care, since intimidating Varrik always had been part of his plan. "What sneaky cowswine told you about my foundations? And why are you even interested." He asked. Of course the businessman implied that Ma Ko was here for Asami´s strategic interests. Even if Varrick trading Inc. was the main logistics distributor for the Future industries group Asami could´ve stomped out an own chain of logistic companies in an astonishingly short period of time. At least that was what Varrick was thinking. Different from him Asami Sato was a favourite of the council as well as the firenation pairlament. She without a doubt would be able to get not only freedom of taxation but also active help from the governments if she decided to dump Varrick´s companies due a personal vendetta. "So you know Mrs. Taiji – I appreciate your legwork Chouw." Varrik almost seemed as if he was complimenting a toddler for picking his first daisy. Suddenly the jovial man was far less jovial and it seemed the bouncers took a sudden interest in the conversation between them. Ma Ko hoped these dudes weren´t on Varriks payroll, otherwise his exit could become quite unhealthy. "What does Asami want?" He cut the chase bluntly. "I´ve been expecting her to make a move for quite some time." He responded dryly. Hes watery blue eyes looked like the bottomless depths of the ocean. Ma ko gulped, he had no clue why Asami should be related to the talk they were having.

"Don´t you think you´re dodging the topic at hand – I want to know what you use this foundation for Varrik. No worries I´ll not call the republic times about it. I just wanna know." Ma ko glowered at the man who had lost any interest in plumwine and fried noodles. "Oh please Chouw, you think I´m an imbecile posterboy like your little brother? I´m Varrik son of Varrik – the biggest self-made man in the world!" he bragged. Ma Ko´s face remained blank, if he would jump at any petty insult people hurled hat him he would die of a heart attack very soon. "What I think is not of importance Varrik. I know that you´re an excellent trader." The man frowned at the word as if Chouw had called him a manwhore to his face. "I also know that you´ve got some of the best lawyers of Rep City as your lapdogs, but I just want to state…" he trailed off "that going to court against me would be a waste of money, time and nerves – even though you WILL win in the end. The question is just if you´re willing to waste so much resources on a mere captain of police." He summarized smugly. Varrik seemed to be short of seething with rage. It definitely wasn´t often that somebody stood up against him in such a blunt and crude way. The businessman cracked his slim knuckles. "Listen Ma Ko, I´m playing this game for almost two decades now, you can´t fool me with beginner tricks. I know you´ve got nothing and if you want to get on with your job without being demoted to a traffic regulation officer I advise you to get up, leave the restaurant and pay this bill." He pointed at the table. "I´m being generous here since, we´ve been through the thick of it together. You can tell your – mistress – that this sort of cheap blackmail will lead to nothing. Next time I´ll not be lenient and I´ll make use of paragraph thirtythree of the republic trade act – tell her that. Also, I could just leave right now!" He threatened in a still hushed voice. Ma ko had no idea of paragraph thirtythree but he was good at bluffing. "As far as I know Asami is your customer, she doesn´t buy anything from you but ores – ores she´ll mine herself in due time! Really, I wonder why you´re so adamant about not telling me what this foundation of yours does… You´re no prude man so it can´t be about something like an unstained vest." He smiled with a wink.

"We both know that we´re not made for a single woman." Varrik grinned a crooked grin. "Seem´s I found another one of your hidden talents Chouw. However, you´re the one who approached ME, hence it would just be fair if you spilled your hidden agenda first. I don´t have some lawyers hidden behind the counter so you´re allowed to speak freely." The wet offered. "My hidden agenda." Ma Ko mused. Obviously, the businessman thought Ma Ko knew something he didn´t know. Why else would Varrik remain at the table and expose himself to his accusations? The eccentric merchant sadly was a very elusive person that Ma Ko couldn´t fully comprehend, he didn´t like that at all. It had to be something that was dangerous to Varrik, Ma Ko knew that the man didn´t bother much about his public image. "To be precise my agenda isn´t that secret at all. We´ve to look at the politic situation in Republic city Varrik and my course of action will boil down to a single question." Ma Ko paused.

"What do you think of the Ling clan and the plains of Chu da?" he asked gravely. Indeed – everything was somehow connected to this question the powerhouses of republic city had to answer. Varrik was caught redhanded. He lost his composure for a second before he clapped his hands and poured himself a second plum-wine. "You´re one valiant man Chouw." Ma Ko wasn´t sure if he was being mocked or not. "You know you´re the first person to ask me about this? Not even my wife asked me what I thought about the Lings and the war that´ll come at us without a doubt." Varrik seemed more amused then worried. "Actually I´ve not figured out what to do in this matter. The earthern kingdoms are my most important customers." He played with his fingers like a puppeteer. Ma ko fought the simmering fury in his belly. What was there to think about? You couldn´t do anything but oppose these backwater monarchists who wanted to conquer the united Republic! However, his face remained blank through pure willpower. He nodded slightly. "On the one hand the Lings know how to make business - at least they have known two years ago." Varrik corrected himself. "so they´ve cut ties with you. Understandable, since you´re not earth nation nobility but a filthy savage." Ma Ko interjected. The businessman looked as if he had sucked on a pickled raddish. "I wouldn´t go that far but my subsidiaries have been - substituted - by native companies wherever possible. I´m still the only wholesaler for machinery, fire nation imports and other luxury related commodities." He responded indignated. "They won´t find anybody who can do´em cheaper than I can in this business." He smirked superior. Ma Ko crooked an eyebrow.

"You think Shing Quan Ling does care about a free market and price tags, really?" Ma Ko allowed himself a cynical cackle. "Of course! The world needs a free market!" Varrik seemed to be shaken to his core. Most likely he was like all those spineless merchants – refusing to see the signs of the rising storm. "If – if the Lings burned the markets of Xing Tao they´ll have had their special reasons." He tried to reassure himself. Ma Ko´s fist hit the table and the bouncers jolted upright. They obviously weren´t sure about what to do next. Ma Ko rolled his eyes. "Come on Varrik, you´re kidding yourself. What should be special about the markets of a provincial capital? The only thing special in xing Tao was a small firenation mercantile district!" Ma Ko glowered at the merchant who couldn´t give an answer to that. "I´ll tell you why the markets burned – it´s because the esteemed Shing Quang ling doesn´t have a leash on his army of rabid war-dogs. And furthermore he´d love to eradicate the firenation from the earth's surface." The firebender stated the truth. "Maybe he doesn´t even WANT them to be on his lash because he plans to use their savagery for his bigger plans. This man won´t settle until he´s crowned godly emperor and if he´ll stop after that is questionable at best." Ma Ko responded. Varrik gulped down his plum wine. "You´re so negative." His voice was hollow. "No – I´m one of the few levelheaded men in this damned city! Obviously, everybody has forgotten that this very piece of land had been property of the Bei Long Shen a mere century ago! Do you think the noble´s won´t want to rule the beacon of technology?" he quirked his eyebrow. "Do you have facts Chouw – something besides - my employees hear stuff from other people!" Varrik´s eyes were piercing like cold icy shards. "Is that the reson for councilmen Tenzin meddling with travelling merchants and sending out his acolytes?" Varrik asked.

Ma Ko was astonished that Varrik had such a precise judgment about master Tenzins actions. "Yes." He confirmed the man´s suspicions. It wasn´t that Ma Ko wanted Varrik to stop washing dirty money in the first place. It was far more important that Varrik helped him build a self-defense force for this nation. The man in front of him was easily as powerful as the firelord, even if one could easily forget this. He had larger fortunes than Asami and far less scruple. Also, he was a trader by heart, his words held a certain sway in numerous courts. Varrik was a maker and since nobody else was doing what needed to be done Ma Ko decided to become a maker himself – consequences be damned! "Do you know what a bullet-thrower is." Ma Ko whispered as Varrik turned white as a sheet. "Y-Yes." He stammered astonished. "That´s a quite impressive but quirky weapon the earth queen demonstrated on a party once. And your girlfriend knows a suspicious lot about them" He responded. Obviously, the businessman has severely underestimated me, Ma Ko thought. "The Dai Li have hundreds of them – maybe thousands. Thanks to Asamis oh so nice father. You have seen what such a thing can do on the Republic all schools night, imagine thousands of them handed out to soldiers who fire in formation." Varrik needed another glass of wine. "Do you think the Republic police department could do anything to stop such a force? We´ve seen what the small, battle weary, second army of Ku Vi Ra did to the city. We have to become a state Varrik!" Ma Ko screwed his plans - and his pride. "I – we need you. That´s the truth. I could try to blackmail you with your connections towards the dog soldiers! I could dig into your taxation reports! I won´t Varrik – because you may not be a law abiding citizen but you´re no psychotic whoreson! There is a good man inside you – I´ve seen him." Ma Ko responded. "I beg of you to help me make our Republic strong. Give it a self-defense force that deserves its name. That´s what me, Asami and Master Tenzin are fighting for. Give aid to those in the kingdoms who want a free market, who want for things to change!" he pleaded with a desperate voice. Varrik obviously was short of panicking, it seemed that Ma Ko had hit him square in the chest. The word dog soldiers made the bouncers grab their sticks and snarl questions at Varrick. Ma ko reacted fast, he jumped from his chair and entered a basic firebending stance as the men stood there threatening. Varrik was short of falling off his chair, cold sweat staining his brows. "Just who under the heavens told you!" he snarled like a cornered tigerdillo. Ma Ko thought about telling the truth but decided against it. Since a lot of razzias had been carried out in the last week it was quite possible that they had found some documents – like a diary of a member. Yeah – that would be inconspicuous since people did stupid things and he had no idea if it was common for the dog soldiers to have written documents! "We found a diary." He responded with a fake grin.

"Some of your guys obviously wanted to be an author and therefore recorded all his doings. He surveyed a ton of names and even more theories about who, ordered what…" Ma Ko shook his head. "no dog soldier would do something like that. Let´s clobber this landlubber!" one of the bulky men growled. He didn´t wait for a reply and lunged at Ma Ko who unleashed a fireblast, the man delved out of the way in a twisting, dance-like motion. Ma Ko barely managed to parry the wooden bat with his left forearm, the impact sent a shock through his whole body. Without thinking he breathed out and manifested the rays of Agni in his hands. A hissing, compact flame singed the burly mans clothing. Suddenly Ma Ko yelped as a searing pain made him almost lose his mind. He subconsciously clutched his private parts and was knocked out with a precise strike on the head.

When he awoke his head felt twice its usual size, while his private parts seemed to have been reduced to a hurting, meaty pulp. Finally, he noticed that he had been tied to a chair. He definitely would be able to burn himself through the ropes that chained him to the chair. The two men and Varrik were discussing something. They obviously had not realized that he was awake, yet. "We´ve got to kill him! Nobody is allowed to know about the wolf´s homestead!" one of the bulky guys had gripped Varriks collar "A spineless man-child like you will not stop me from protecting the boys!" "You´ve forgotten who my father is, have you? Bloody yak-fucker!" the merchant defended himself in a loud voice. The huge man shoved Varrick forcefully, the merchand slammed into a heavy barrel and groaned. "A slimy whimp like you doesn´t deserve a father like the stormwolf!" he spit out in disgust. Varrik cackled. " I don´t CARE if I DESERVE anything, I´m playing my hands with what I´ve got - you oversized toddler!" the merchant rubbed his lower back. "Fact is I am the stormwolf´s son and I think about what he might do if he got news regarding the demise of ME - his last living relative." He mused while the bulky brawlers seemed to shrink before Ma Kos eyes. The smaller bouncer whispered something to his battle brother. "And therefore, you´ll be nice blue puppies and do what I say - which means that you´re NOT distributing Mr. Chouws remains as seal jerky." He stated. Mako gulped dryly while an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. He had to get out of this chair really fast. Therefore, he started breathing in the heaves of Agni. The second bouncer was the only one who noticed the small trails of smoke that were rising from Ma Kos arms and legs. His colleague was much too busy with yelling at Varrik in Inuktikut. The merchant retorted in the same language, even though he already had the upper hand. "I don´t like interrupting you boss - but the firefry is burning the ropes." The smaller man stated dryly. His companion twirled around and rose his bat.

"STOP!" Varrick yelled in a commanding voice. "You´re not disturbing my conversations AGAIN!" he reprimanded the huge man, who flinched visibly. Ma Ko concentrated on destroying his restraints while he still could. "Chrm…Well Ma Ko, my associates are a tad uncivilized." he seemed slightly embarrassed. "Just fuck yourself Varrik!" Ma Ko blurted while he tried to clear his slightly blurry vision. The businessman ignored the insult and cleared his throat. "Well – let´s just say that my father has slightly questionable business ethics compared to your girlfriend or the humble old me. I however am not a dog-soldier." he responded without blushing. Varriks father was a bloody crime lord! Ma Ko wasn´t as surprised as he should have been. The fact that Varrik built the largest trading company agglomerate of the united Republic from scratch one in a mere fifteen to twenty years always had felt kinda fishy! "As I said before Varrik, we´ve got bigger problems than your fathers' businesses in the southern tribes or heavens knows where!" Ma ko grumbled. The less he knew about the illegal doings of the merchant, the less he would have to fight an arising inner conflict. "Hah, the hero of the people isn´t such a nice boy after all." One of the bouncers mocked. "Seems you´re more of an uppity bitch banging streetrat." The other one added. Ma ko´s eyes narrowed and suddenly the ropes holding his arms gave in. "Varrik – do we really need these hilarious cronies of yours? They´re making my right arm twitchy." Ma Ko fumed silently. The smaller bouncer gulped, while the bigger one flashed a challenging grin. Ma ko wasn´t afraid of the man even if he was a dangerous opponent. Varrik again switched to Inuktikut and snarled at the men. The bouncers responded something in a heated tone but finally left the cellar of Hasooks noodlery. Now Ma ko noticed he had been held in some sort of storage room, where various casks and boxes were piled up. "Well, let´s not talk about this diary Ma ko. I hope you´ve already sent it somewhere safe. Because if you think about unleashing hell on dog-soldier smuggling operations I´d be the last one to hold a grudge against you." Ma ko blinked astonished. Wasn´t Varriks father a quite prominent figure amongst the dogsoldiers?

Varrik smiled. "let´s just say that my father is quite the embarrassment. I´d like to cut ties with such a rural and violent man who – thinks I should restrict my opportunities to enjoy life to it´s fullest!" Ma Ko didn´t understand what Varrik meant but of course he didn´t bother to ask him. "ok." He just responded shrugging. The fact that the mentioned diary was nonexistent was something he wouldn´t tell anybody. "You still haven´t answered my questions. Where are your loyalties Varrik." The officer poked again. Varrik sighed and looked quite despaired. The man obviously hated openly siding with people, which was nothing new for Captain Chouw. "I – I just can´t understand how civilized and educated men like the ling princes can desire a stupid title so much!" he sighed. "I´mean - come on Ma ko – money IS power, not some blody jade chair. By the blazes of Agni, I could BUY an army and a bloody throne too! If I wanted such boring shit I´d be president Varrick right now!" he responded. Chouw wasn´t so sure about that, but he knew better than to contradict an eccentric scientist-turned businessman. "So you DO know what they´re doing!" Ma Ko accused Varrick, who flinched under the younger mans loud voice. "Of course I´d know, I´m not some backwater savage!" he snapped annoyed. "But…what do we care Ma ko, I mean come on – let em take the kingdoms. There still is a lot of infighting between warlords, democrats and some savage minorities. We´re the united Republic. We´ve got the united forces and the fire nation. It´s not our business to save the world!" He tried to soothe the cop. However, Varricks voice sounded quite small and it was obvious that he wasn´t unfazed. "Of course – since despotic fucktards like firelord Ozai or Kuvira cared SO MUCH about the approval of other nations! Damn Varrik, the united forces haven´t fought a single real battle! The cannibal wars are a joke compared to that!" he sneered.

"The squirreltoad operation was made up by dai Li agents Varrick. They aren´t dead, no the´re coming back to light and carry the Lings banner! I know that because I´m the man responsible for the buffalo flats massacre… Because I DO what needs to be done….The Dai Li stole tooling equipment form Future industries and secretly manufactured bulletthrowers in the republic." Ma ko fogort himself for a moment and the businessman let out a startled cry and stared at him with frightened eyes. "They´ll not stop! Once they´ve taken Ba Sing Se they´ll come here." Varrick grit his teeth. "What do you want form me Chouw!" he yelled at the young man. "What the fuck am I supposed to do – i´m a bloody merchant!" he responded. Ma Ko frowned. "A Merchant – don´t play games Varrick. I know that you´ve got charisma. You´re all buddy with the president and councilmen. Lastly you´re the only one who has stocked enough army supplies to set up a self-defense force that deserves the name." Ma Ko poked the man's shoulder. "How about this; you meet with Tenzin, me and Asami and we´re talking about these things in detail after we have prepared something resembling a plan." Varrik waited a moment. His eyes cleared and he looked outright frightened. Ma ko recognized this gaze – and he knew he had won! "You´ve got yourselve a deal Chouw – however there is a tiny favor I´d like to ask." The merchant responded. Ma Ko rolled his eyes. "Being?" he asked. "Well, ya know – I´ve got to do some favors for my father once in a while. I´d need some safe houses for storage of, things you should know nothing about." Varrik responded. "I´m not talking about human trafficking but about goods – so please don´t be a pain in the ass and steer clear of pier six." The merchant smiled. Ma ko snorted.

Varrik was asking a lot, since he demanded him to commit a crime. Also, Ma ko wasn´t the Chief of police so an overzealous subordinate could easily ruin everything. "You know that I´m not Ping Hungshu, do you?" he responded. Varrick chuckled. "Aww come on Ol´Hungshu is a decent pal. We´re both booty-guys." Varrick smirked and added a twinkle. Ma Ko managed a disturbed nod, actually it wasn´t that unexpected that Varrick and Hungshu had partied together. After all, Hungshu still seemed to be an uninvited regular to almost all parties held in the tiger´s den. Ma ko was in a pitch, he had played most of his cards and of course Varrick wouldn´t support him for free. So he nodded in defeat, since dancing close with a crime-lords son definitely was lighter on his conscience compared to not doing everything humanly possible to stop the ling clan. "We´ve got ourselves a deal Varrick." He responded in a heavy voice. The businessman wasn´t smiling as he shook the officer's hand. Damn, even Asamis handshakes were stronger – Ma Ko thought disgusted. He still felt like shit. Luckily, he had planned no further appointments for today. In the meanwhile, he had noticed the sticky wound that hid itself beneath his blackish hair. "That´s fine pal, let´s have some good plum wine. Actually Mrs. Taiji never was going to visit me, wasn´t she?" the businessman asked innocently. Obviously, Ma Kos face gave him away, he still was surprised that a bookish guy like Varrick was so damn smarmy.


End file.
